Some Alberta daycares that are being allowed to reopen next week say they don’t feel prepared to welcome back children.
At Heartland Agency, which operates two daycares in the city as well as other educational and out-of-school care programs, Brianna Parkhill said the industry has not received a list of provincial guidelines promised when Premier Jason Kenney revealed Alberta’s relaunch strategy .
Stage 1 of the relaunch, which includes child-care centres and daycares, is set for May 14.
While last week’s announcement was welcome news, Parkhill said her agency is in a holding pattern until it can put in place the restrictions and changes at its facilities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“We’re actually very concerned,” said Parkhill, the director of the EvenStart program and the Early Learning and Child Care centres.
“Our phones are ringing off the hook every day with parents wanting to get back into the program, get their names on the list for the open spots. We have staff phoning and saying, ‘OK, we’re ready to come back, how soon can we come back.’ We don’t know.
“May 14 is a week from (Thursday) and we have no answers.”
An email to daycares from the Alberta government indicated that guidelines would be released early next week.
For some centres, including Heartland, that is not enough time to ensure the health and safety of children, parents and staff.
As such, they are postponing reopening until June 1.
“We have parents calling and saying, ‘My boss says I have to be back at work on May 14 and I need child care on May 14,’ ” Parkhill said.
“I appreciate that, I really do, but there’s absolutely no way we can open on May 14.
“There’s just no way . . . it is very frustrating. Everyone just wants to know (answers) and we have nothing to give them.”
Parkhill said they have heard they will be operating at a reduced capacity. But without knowing how many children they will be permitted to care for, they can’t inform parents of how they will be operating and staffing their facilities.
There are questions beyond the intake numbers.
There are matters including the serving and handling of food, sanitization requirements, staff precautionary measures, personal protective equipment regulations and physical distancing, which, for some ages of children, is unrealistic.
Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw originally issued an order March 16 closing daycares, out-of-school care and preschool programs because of COVID-19. On March 20, that order was amended, allowing some approved daycares and day homes to be reopened under strict guidelines and reduced capacities to support essential workers and their children.
Kids U, which has child-care locations across the city, has been open during the pandemic.
Its locations have been operating under guidelines set by the Alberta government six weeks ago, but are receiving many questions from parents and staff regarding capacity and safety precautions after the relaunch strategy was released.
“They want to know how many children will be in a class, what is our updated sickness policy,” said Kids U executive director Anil Karim. “Pre-COVID, we would wait for a fever and send the child home for a 24-hour period. Now, our symptoms we look for could be something that even resembles a mild cold — any kind of fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose.”
The Alberta government announced Wednesday that child-care centres and approved family day-home agencies will be getting as much as $17.8 million in support to safely reopen. It will help cover costs including rent, utilities, cleaning and sanitizing, and staff recruitment and training.
Child-care centres that have already reopened can receive a $500 one-time grant for PPE and cleaning supplies.
But NDP children’s services critic Rakhi Pancholi says the funding — which had been requested by child-care operators and the Opposition since mid-March — is insufficient.
“Child-care centres have been under enormous stress over the last few months because they have no income coming in,” Pancholi said in a media conference at the Alberta legislature on Thursday.
“To reopen, they needed financial supports. The announcement (Wednesday) is simply too little, too late.
“It’s a drop in the bucket.”
Pancholi said the reopening strategy and lack of information have created a lot of questions. She added it was clear the decision to reopen child-care facilities was made without a plan and without proper consultation.
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