August 16, 2007

MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ONLINE GUIDE TO LICENSED PROVINCIAL CHILD CARE

New Resource Helps Parents Make Informed Decisions About Child Care

QUEEN’S PARK —The McGuinty government has launched a website to help parents make informed decisions about child care, Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers announced today.

“When parents place their children, and their trust, in a licensed child care program , there is no room for compromise,” said Chambers. “This is a new tool to help parents find information on licensed child care so they can be confident in the well-being of their children.”
The site is easily accessible at www.ontario.ca/licensedchildcare.  A search tool allows parents to search for child care by city, postal code, type of program, age group, program name, operator name or language of service delivery. The site also provides the status of the licence of any licensed program parents might be considering or about which they might be concerned. The ministry will enhance the site in future with additional resources for parents.
This initiative supports Best Start, the government’s plan for child care, early learning and healthy development to help make sure Ontario’s children are ready to achieve success in school when they enter Grade 1. In July, the government announced a first-of-its-kind regulatory College of Early Childhood Educators as part of its commitment to support excellence in early learning and child care and maintain professional standards for child care professionals. Other government investments supporting Ontario’s young children and their families include:

• An additional $142.5 million this year to enhance and strengthen the government’s Best Start program and sustain 7,374 licensed childcare spaces, including 300 new licensed and culturally-appropriate child care spaces for Aboriginal children in targeted off-reserve communities
• Creating more than 22,000 new Best Start licensed child care spaces province-wide over the past 2 years
• Streamlining the eligibility process for child care fee subsidies based on family net income so more families are now eligible
• Increasing support for Ontario’s student nutrition program to ensure that more than 361,000 elementary and secondary students received healthy, nutritious meals and snacks this school year – an increase of nearly 15 per cent over the previous school year
• More support to children in vulnerable families through an expanded Healthy Babies Healthy Children program
• More support for the health and well-being of children through the $2.1 billion five-year investment in the Ontario Child Benefit, which provides low-income families with a one-time down payment of up to $250 per child in 2007, growing to a maximum of $1,100 annually per child by 2011

 “We’ve listened to parents who want to know that their children are safe and well looked after by well-trained professionals when they are in licensed child care facilities,” said Chambers. “This initiative responds to their concerns and is part of our government’s continuing plan for high quality, affordable child care.”