YWCA steps in to save Elmsdale daycare as N.S. struggles with child care shortage

When the owner of Swings Daycare recently announced she was retiring after 25 years, the Elmsdale, N.S., area was at risk of losing much-needed child-care spaces.

But the YWCA has stepped up to take over ownership, and began managing the daycare on Friday.

Miia Suokonautio, the executive director of YWCA Halifax, told CBC News that the aim is to provide uninterrupted care for families and uninterrupted work for the employees. 

"That centre is really important for those communities and those families and those employees who work there," she said.

The transition may be welcomed by families served by the facility, especially since it comes at a time when many across the province are struggling to find child-care spaces.

Halifax area losing spaces, NDP says

In February, Nova Scotia announced $12 million in funding for the sector as part of the federal-provincial affordable child-care agreement, a $600-million deal intended to create $10 per day child care in Nova Scotia by 2026.

But on Thursday, Nova Scotia NDP tweeted results from a freedom of information request showing that the number of child-care spaces in centres and family home providers in the province had only increased by 28 since the Houston government took power two years ago.

A news release from the Nova Scotia NDP caucus says so far this year, the Halifax Regional Municipality lost more child-care spaces than were created.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the numbers are "embarrassing."

"Instead of taking responsibility, essentially we hear a shell game with numbers going on from the minister," she told reporters in Halifax.

The province has a "population that is exploding, we have a cost of living crisis and we have a housing crisis and in the midst of that, people cannot find daycare for their children."

She called the agreement with the federal government a "failure" so far. 

"I suspect it's as much about management as it is about money," she said. "I think that this is being mishandled. I think it's not getting the attention it deserves and not being treated with the urgency it needs to be treated with."

Nova Scotia Education Minister Becky Druhan said the province is feeling the pressure from people in the child-care sector retiring.

But she said the government is investing in child care, and there is funding available for the government to take over privately-run daycares.

"So we're making use of that funding and we're making use of the supports of partners in the system, both private operators and not-for-profit providers to preserve many spaces," she said.

Demand 'at an all-time high'

For Suokonautio, keeping daycares like Swings open is a gender equality issue because it helps keep women in the workforce.

But demand is "at an all-time high and our waiting lists are very long," she said, because of the affordable child-care agreement. 

"What it's telling us is that people who were previously being priced out, are now able to access [child care]."

The YWCA is working with the province to increase the number of child-care providers and ensure that businesses like Swings don't disappear. 

"If we want rural families to remain in rural communities or outside of the central core, we have to make sure that families have access to schools and child care," Suokonautio said.

'It's extremely stressful'

For parents like Claire Horn, finding a child-care spot for her 14-month-old is an immediate need. She and her partner have been on a wait-list since she was pregnant. 

A health law researcher at Dalhousie University, Horn said that almost all of her salary goes toward paying for babysitters.

"It's extremely stressful. It's a constant rearrangement of schedules and uncertainty about how long any given child-care arrangement is going to last," she told CBC News.

While she and her partner are privileged to work flexible jobs, she said, not every parent is as fortunate. 

"I know people that have had to leave paid employment in order to cover their child-care needs. People that are trying to balance working from home while also looking after their kids," she said.

"I also know people that are pregnant and that are panicking about what they're going to do."