Around 50 home daycares including some in Lanark County and Leeds Grenville have been told that their contracts are ending unexpectedly.
It means they will no longer be part of the Canada-wide Early Learning Childcare program and in some cases costs to keep their kids in the daycares are skyrocketing in two weeks. This is the program aiming to make daycare cost $10 a day by 2025. But now, nearly 300 families, including many in our area, will have to pay much more for daycare because the discounts they were getting will stop.
It affects daycares run by Natural Connections Childcare.
The sudden change is causing problems right before the school year starts and makes the shortage of daycare spots even worse in growing municipalities like Carleton Place and Beckwith.
Natural Connections Childcare is launching an official complaint about the move, which they found out about late last week.
Lanark County say they’re ending the contracts for “convenience.” Families only got 15 days’ notice about this big change, which is making things more difficult for many.
People who run daycares are worried about what will happen next. Some will lose half of the money they usually get, and some might even have to close because families can’t afford it anymore.
Ontario joined the $10-a-day program in 2022, a bit later than other provinces. They got $13.2 billion to help families with young kids over six years. But now, with this move, there’s more pressure on other licensed providers which are already full. Parents will have no choice to take the private care route, which is much more costly.
