Child care costs 'doubled since 2001'

A new report shows child care is becoming increasingly expensive and is forcing parents to reduce their working hours to care for their children.

The Taskforce on Care Costs, comprising of business groups and peak non-government bodies, released an affordability index on child care on Friday.

The study follows the price of child care since December 2001 and shows its affordability has dropped by more than 50 per cent.

"If child care costs continue to rise at a rate faster than incomes, childcare will become too expensive for the average family and many more parents will consider leaving the workforce," the report said.

One in four parents have already reduced their working hours because of the high cost of child care, the study shows.

Making childcare work for you

CHILDCARE costs have rocketed in recent years, pricing many parents out of the market. Some families have to rely on friends and relatives to look after the kids to enable them to go out to work.

Other mums have given up their careers because soaring childcare bills have made going back to work financially unviable.

While those who do go back to work as soon as maternity leave ends face hefty nursery bills or nanny fees at the end of each month.

A survey by The Daycare Trust charity found that a typical full-time nursery place for a child under two is £152 a week – a rise of six per cent on last year.

Kate Goddard, the charity's policy and research officer, said that as there is no government regulation of childcare costs, prices can vary widely especially in regions such as the north west with nurseries and childminders in more affluent areas charging more for their services.

State checking safety of daycare centers

State environmental officials are asking polluters to make sure that they aren't putting children in nearby day care centers in danger, according to a newspaper report.

In a letter dated Jan. 29, Department of Environmental Protection officials asked owners of businesses that have groundwater pollution under their facilities to determine whether the contaminants have reached day care centers nearby.

DEP Assistant Director of Remediation, Ron Corcory, said the letters were "purely precautionary" and did not indicate that the department feels children are at risk.

The letter stems from mercury contamination that was found at a day care center in Gloucester County's Franklin Township. The school was built on the same site where a thermometer factory used to do business.

Arkansas Childcare Ranking not Care for Alarm, Advocate says

An advocacy group for children and families says a national group's ranking of Arkansas at 42 in childcare standards does not give a complete picture of the efforts to improve the quality of childcare.

Rich Huddleston of the nonprofit organization, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, says the report shouldn't cause undue alarm.

The state-by-state comparison was compiled by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, based in Virginia. Idaho came in last overall.

U.S. Defense Department services, which were included in the comparison, ranked at the top. While Arkansas ranked 42 overall, it excelled in standards enforcement, ranking 16th in the nation.

Huddleston says the report is a reminder that every state should reassess its standards every couple of years.

How good is your daycare?

A nationwide survey says many states are getting lazy when it comes to regulating childcare centers. It ranks the military's system as the best. Out of the 50 states, Pennsylvania comes in at number 15. Ewa Roman talked with a spokesperson for all childcare centers in the state to see how she plans on making things better.

It can rattle some parents. For Keena Synder of New Cumberland, finding child care was tougher than expected. “You want to find a place that like---no place is gonna take as good car of your kid as you are."

That's why Keena is thankful for organizations like the National Association of Child Care Resources, a group that recently ranked states in oversight of childcare centers.

Keena: “I'm glad there's somebody out there that helps parents because as a first time parent you don't really know what to look for."

The report puts Pennsylavania at number 15 out of 50 states.

A fairer way to fund child care

Karine Boissonneault and Pascal Drouin, parents of four children under age 10, would use Mario Dumont's proposed subsidy of $5,200 per year per child to buy diapers, they told the CBC.

That is possibly not what the leader of Action democratique had in mind with his proposal. But that's freedom of choice in action. Let parents spend a subsidy as they want on their children and they might not choose daycare.

Subsidized $5-a-day daycare, launched in 1997 and later raised to $7-a-day, has proved one of the most popular measures ever introduced in Quebec - for those families lucky enough to land a place. And no wonder. The real cost of the service is about $39 per child per day. Picking up the $32 parents don't pay will cost the government of Quebec roughly $1.5 billion this year.

Study says Idaho ranks last in childcare

Idaho is worst in the nation when it comes to having someone take care of our kids, according to a study released last week by The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
The study faults Idaho's child care regulations and ranked the state last, after Louisiana.
The national standard for toddler childcare is one staff person to every six children. In Idaho, there are three variations; one staff to six children for children under 18 months, one staff to 12 children for ages 18 months to five years and one staff to 18 children for ages five years and older.
Criteria for the rankings included caseloads for center inspectors, frequency of inspections, health and safety requirements, background checks, staff qualifications and activities offered to children.

Daycare Closing

Kate Henley says she was upset when she learned the daycare would be closing. "That's my job for one and it's where my kids have gone to daycare for a little over a year.
Kayla Groseclose shares Henley's frustrations. "The teachers are great and he has learned a lot since he's been in there and I don't know that I can find another daycare that will give him what he got there."
Jeff and Terry Stump own the daycare. They say they've been losing money for the last year and that expenses exceed income.
Some people are upset about the short notice, but the owners say it's enough time for parents to find another daycare and for employees to find another job. They say it's better than closing the daycare without any notice at all.
They say in order to stay open, they would have to increase the daycare fees, which would be too much for parents.

Daycare with a vision

Dozens of children dashed around the New England Sports Academy yesterday morning, climbing over obstacle courses, swinging on trapezes and tossing baseballs, and if owner Henry Shterenberg has his way, the facility will soon add a daycare contingent to its offerings.
Shterenberg envisions the program, called Super Kid Academy Childcare, as balancing fitness with academics at the 345 University Ave. site. If approved by the town and state, the daycare would complement the New England Sports Academy’s existing multitude of activities for children and adults, which includes baseball, basketball, boxing, martial arts and weights.
"We want to put athletics education on the same level as academic education," Shterenberg said.
The fitness education component has the objective of combatting childhood obesity.

Public Health tardy in paying daycare providers

The Government of Guam's bleak financial condition continues on its downward spiral, now affecting the island's children enrolled in daycare. Funding problems surrounding the Department of Public Health's Childcare Block Grant Program date back to October 2006 for some providers. Public Health openly admits to the fact they are late on their payments for their providers under the program. Chief human services administrator Diana Calvo stated as a result of concerns raised at last months meeting, a work group was established between Public Health and the Childcare Association Group to assist the agency get payments out to providers, saying, "It basically is a manual process and we only have a number of staff dedicated to preparing it on a monthly basis." She also confirmed, "As far as the calls that have come in today, we're really not sure what prompted the calls to be made, because one of the things that we had pledged to the providers was to really focus on getting the payments out as fast as we can."Agency director Art San Agustin in the meantime says Department of Administration deputy director Joey Manibusan informed him that payments for the childcare providers would be released.

City Kids Daycare Discriminates Against Breastfeeding Mothers

Robin Neorr enrolled her daughter in one of the City Kids Daycare available in downtown Columbus Ohio, and was charged an additional $50 per week to care for her three month old daughter because she was breastfed. While Neorr's infant daughter was still receiving care from the City Kids Daycare she felt uneasy drawing negative attention to the discrimination. However now that she no longer depends on them to watch her child Neorr is fighting back. Neorr was told by the City Kids Daycare that her milk was a hazardous body fluid that had to be kept separate from all other food. The bottles of pumped milk were kept in a separate refrigerator in the director's office and labeled as a biohazard. The daycare also claimed that they would have to purchase a separate warming pot for heating up the breast milk.

'Childcare - it's a second mortgage'

Everyone knows that having kids can be expensive - new clothes, the latest toys and baby equipment all add up. But it's paying for childcare that really hits parents in the pocket. If both parents go out to work full-time the cost of paying for a day nursery or childminder for just one child can easily add up to £800 per month.
With two children you'll be breaking the £1,000 pain barrier.
It's a wonder anyone goes out to work these days when, as part-time recruitment consultant and mum of two Bethan Gallimore puts it: 'It's a second mortgage.'
Assuming you want to go back to work, your childcare options are limited.

More babies in care as both parents go to work

Babies are being placed in childcare younger than ever as parents return to work and study sooner.
Auckland centres licensed for children under 1 year report full baby rooms and longer waiting lists.
Enquiries to inner Auckland Uptown Kids Ltd used to be spread evenly for under-2 and over 2-year-olds, but manager April Turner said the under-2s have overtaken the older group in the past six months. "Most of our parents are working," she said.
Wendy Doland, of Everglade Early Learning Centre in Manukau City, says she's had to open a waiting list for the first time in her two years as manager. Last year she also noticed a surge in enrolments of 3-to-6-month-olds.
"In Auckland, I think, there's more pressure on families to return to work. To live here now you need one-and-a-half good incomes."
Official figures reveal the extent of the trend.

Childcare 'costs less' under coalition

Childcare fees have increased 22 per cent under 10 years of coalition rule, less than half the rise under eight years of Labor government, the federal government says.
New figures from the Child Care Census, released by the government show the real cost of childcare fees has increased $41.89 since 1996.
But in the previous eight years of Labor government, the real cost of child care fees rose 47 per cent, or $60.75.
"The Labor party is in no position to attack the Coalition on child care fees given its appalling record when in office," Families Minister Mal Brough said in a statement.
Labor's families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said earlier that child care costs had increased more than the price of bananas and fuel over the past five years.