Continued from Page A6é

council.

With strength of character the
members remained discreetly
silent throughout the embarrassing
performance.

Apologies to Mr. Logan for the
anti-climax to an otherwise pleas-
ant evening.

J. Macdonald
Sidney

First priority is
children’s safety

Editor: ;

There are several points in your
“Group day care thwarted in effort
to get license” article of Nov. 13,
to which I must respond.

Firstly, I am concerned about
John Getgood’s comment that the
delay in obtaining an operating
license for the Three Little Kittens
group daycare is caused by “an
outdated Community Care Facility
Act and overzealous enforcement
by inspectors.”

The Child Care Facilities’
licensing regulations include
health and safety standards, space
and equipment requirements,
child-to-staff ratios and staff quali-
fications. Other day care operators
I know have not had difficulty
meeting these standards and as a
parent I would be entirely adverse
to placing my child in the care of
any day care which had not met
these minimum standards.

Secondly, Getgood calls the
enrollment restrictions of the
Community Care Facility Act
“unworkable.” The enrollment
restrictions for a group day care
are a maximum group size of 25,
with a staff-to-child ratio of one to
eight for children over three years.

Anyone who has worked with
young children will agree that even
with these ratios, one feels
extremely stretched in providing
top quality care for each child’s

individual needs. The enrollment.

restrictions for family day care are
a maximum of five preschoolers
and two school age children.

As the name implies, family day
care takes place in the caregiver’s
own home and very few homes
would have adequate safe space
and facilities for more than seven
children, let alone for the 14
children who temporarily attended
the Getgood’s family day care.

Young children require as much
individual attention as possible
from adults to whom they are
bonded. They also need large
blocks of time spent in small
versus large groups of age mates.

These enrollment restrictions
may be tough financially on day
care operators but most of us who
work with children are not willing
to forfeit the well-being of children
for our own financial gain.

Finally, Getgood complains that
day care staff are required to hold
Early Childhood
Education (E.CE.) certificates.

As in any profession, a worker’s
completion of required schooling

does not guarantee that he or she
will be a first rate employee.
However, a certified early child-
hood educator, along with com-
pleting theoretical courses in
childhood development, music,
art, etc., has also completed super-
vised practicums in well respected
E.CE. settings.

Certification is not granted
unless students meet .certain aca-
demic and skills-based standards.
Without E.CE certificates we have
no guarantee that workers have
met even these minimum stan-
dards.

In other professions such as
nursing and teaching, we demand

that workers have appropriate cer-_

tification. Why then should we
place less value on the training of
the person responsible for nurtur-
ing, teaching, guiding and caring
for our children for up to 45 hours
per week?

The Getgood’s may consider the
Community Care Facilities Act
“outdate and unworkable”’ but let
us remember that the regulations
are established to safeguard the
safety and well-being of children
— not to thwart day care operators.

Kimberly Ainsworth
Sidney

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