By Chris Brown

Availability and Accessibility

Feds giving Alberta $45M to support child care

Jul 23, 2020 | 10:01 AM

Alberta will receive $45 million this year to invest in early learning and child care.

The funding comes from an agreement between the federal, provincial and territorial governments that started in the 2017-18 fiscal year and will continue to the current one.

“This means that there will be new licensed child care spaces available and that more Alberta families will benefit from child care subsidies,” said federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Ahmed Hussen. “It will also help offset the costs associated with COVID-19 closures and the reopening of child care centres in Alberta.”

Alberta Minister of Children’s Services Rebecca Schulz said the $45 million investment will help make child care more accessible and available for Alberta families, and that it will aid Alberta’s economic relaunch.

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“Getting parents back to work truly is a huge part of Alberta’s economic recovery plan,” she said.

“This investment will ensure tens of thousands of parents, especially women and single parents, can enter the workforce while also supporting parent choice and parents’ diverse needs,” Schulz added in a release.

The government says the funding for the three key priorities includes:

• $29 million for affordability – Supporting low-to-middle-income families through higher child care subsidies.
  • A simplified formula and renewed investment in child care subsidy will result in 16,000 lower-income families paying an average of $25 per day for child care compared with about 7,500 families of all incomes paying $25 per day in the former pilot project.
  • Parents of more than 24,500 children will see their subsidy support increase by 18 per cent and parents of another 3,500 will also see subsidy increases.
• $9.7 million for accessibility – Meeting the diverse needs of parents and children across the province.
  • The new Inclusive Child Care program will expand on the pilot to provide child care operators access to coaching, professional development, and funding for additional staff to support children who have complex needs.
  • Providing programming that address cultural and linguistic needs, such as Indigenous and Francophone programs.
  • Creating up to 385 spaces this year in communities with high need and working with operators, communities, and parents on innovative solutions for parents who work outside typical business hours.
• $4.7 million for quality – Supporting childhood learning and development with high-quality programming and training.
  • The Flight curriculum, a framework that helps guide early learning and child care educators for young children, will be made available online to all child care centres.
  • Supporting ongoing professional development to ensure Alberta has a well-trained and highly skilled early childhood workforce.

Hussen said this funding announced today is on top of the $625 million provided through the Safe Restart Agreement.