Dear Editor:
In regards to the article in last week’s paper about childcare, we would like to inform Ponoka residents we are not full.
The article gave the impression that there were no childcare spaces available in our community. This is not so, there are spaces available, however, spaces are limited due to government regulations for children under the age of three years. As per government regulations, providers are limited to caring for six children in total, including their own. Out of these six only three may be under the age of three years and out of those three, only two may be under the age of two years.
Availability of spaces changes regularly due to the changes in people’s lives and unforeseen circumstances. We do agree with the point that economic development officer Sarah Kraft made about the bottlenecking effect. We ourselves, as an agency feel the repercussions of this.
We are continually looking to recruit new providers. For new providers, training is available, there are opportunities to further your education, government incentives (you could earn an extra $350 to $1,200 per month), you have support from an agency as well as other providers, you can be involved in your community, as well as be at home for your own children.
We are continually growing by way of adding providers to our team and therefore making more spaces available to our community. In the past year and a half we have increased from four providers and 14 children to 12 providers and 42 children.
Little Treasures Family Day Home
Crystal Ahtila, Coordinator
Kathy Dumbleton, Program Manager