Integrating Rural Early Learning and Child Care services into one holistic and responsive community-based system
There is no group in need of quality early learning and child care programs more than rural, remote and northern communities. There is an urgent need to develop quality child care programs in rural, remote and northern communities which have inadequate or no early learning and child care services.
For so long these communities have been told:
- Child care is an urban service
- "We didn't need child care when I was raising my children, why do they need it now"
- Child care cannot operate with small populations, large geographic distances and non-standard work schedules;
- Quality child care programs cannot be sustained in rural, remote and northern communities.
The social stigma associated with rural child care is no longer valid. Both the economic and family circumstances have changed dramatically in the past 15 years and parental supports include child care and all parents may need support at some point in their lives.
Consequently, there is a need to showcase exemplary rural programs which exist in every province to ensure that every child in Canada has access to quality early learning options. These programs also exemplify that quality rural child care is a farm safety strategy and the provision of quality rural child care can reduce the number of farm fatalities in preschool years.
The development of integrated systems is the only way rural, remote and northern communities will ever have quality early learning and child care programs. Small communities do not have the population base to support a separate infant program, preschool program and school-age program. Rather they do better with multi-age, multifaceted programs which provide supports and services for infants, preschoolers, school-age, youth, parents, resource centres and may go so far as intergenerational programs.
In rural, remote and northern Canada there is much to be said about integrating service delivery models both within communities and across defined community boundaries. This integration of services will do much to facilitate the development of quality early learning and child care services with small populations, flexible work schedules and large geographic distances. Successful integrated Canadian programs exist now, to learn from the experiences of other small communities will increase the probability of success.
The success of the program in a small community will depend on the development of partnerships that will build a community vision and values. The process of developing clear objectives and goals with definite timelines is called Communities Achieving Responsive Services or C.A.R.S. It is imperative that the resources meet the needs of a variety of communities - for both working parents as well as stay-at-home parents. Child care is not exclusively an urban service. Early learning and child care must be developed as a family support service which is not restricted by geographic boundaries.
Resources
See Rural Voices website for a full discussion of rural, remote and northern issues.
Governance Resources
Essential Reading:
- United Way Guide
- Manitoba Child Care Association's Human Resource Management Guide for Early Childhood Programs (Manitoba)
- Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care: Child Care Management Guide II. The full guide is available from the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 489 College Street, Suite 206, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5 Tel: 416-538-0628; Fax: 416-538-6737; Toll-free: 1-800-594-7514 - General enquiries by e-mail: info@childcareontario.org
- Government of Saskatchewan's Guide to Developing a Child Care Centre
- The Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre in British Columbia has a number of resources for sale to help both boards and staff, including a Board Orientation Manual available for purchase for $5.
- Toronto First Duty's Guide to Early Childhood Service Integration