Inclusion Action

Honoured Child Care Advocate Slams Harper’s Program

(June 1, 2008 Winnipeg) A 30-year veteran of the fight to achieve universal child care in Canada used her award ceremony to attack the Harper government on the issue of child care.

After receiving an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Winnipeg, Dr. Sharon Hope Irwin told the graduating class that the federal government’s system is not universal and is “a disappointment.”

Irwin told her audience that many of them will need child care, “and when you need it, it will not be there.”

Under the government’s program labeled “universal child care,” the Harper government provides every child under six with 100 taxable dollars a month.

“It is a handout with no accountability or standards.” Irwin went on to explain that there are no strings attached to the 100 dollars.

In a later interview, Irwin said that “It does not guarantee high quality, inclusive child care for anyone…. Get grandmaw or a friend to watch the kids, or spend it on anything you want. There are no standards or expectations. It’s Harper’s system, and it is a very poor system. Call it what you want, it does not qualify as universal child care.”

Town Daycare’s Irwin was honoured for her life work in child care and in the inclusion of children with special needs. Thirty years ago, she founded Town Daycare centre in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, — a program that eventually became a model of quality, inclusive child care for Canada. After 15 years, in 1990, through a non-profit organization she called SpeciaLink, she passed operation of Town Day to a trained staff and took the centre’s commitment and programs on the road.

“My message was simple. If we can do it here in Glace Bay, in a town struggling economically, 250 miles from specialized hospitals and with very few government supports — then you can do it anywhere.”

Today, hundreds of child care centres across Canada measure themselves with the SpeciaLink Child Care Inclusion Scales developed by Dr. Irwin.

In making the award, President Axworthy of the University of Winnipeg pointed out that this is the first time such recognition has been given to a worker in the child care field.

The award ceremony also recognized the new home of the SpeciaLink Centre at the University of Winnipeg, under the direction of Debra Mayer.

For more information and to reach Dr. Irwin, please contact Ronald Caplan at 902-929-2372 and at 902-539-3817. Fax: 902-539-9117. ronaldcaplan@gmail.com

Improving Child Care Helps Kids With Special Needs, Study Shows
University of Guelph, March 2006
Improving the overall quality of child-care programs can be an effective way to support the inclusion of children with special needs, according to a new study by a University of Guelph professor.

SpeciaLink’s Principle 6 describes the inclusion indicator of “Leadership, Pro-active Strategies and Advocacy for High Quality, Inclusive Child Care”.

Even when the regular child care program is available and adequate, many families of children with special needs are excluded by reasons such as staff training, support staffing, transportation, funding and therapeutic support. In fully inclusive child care centres, these limitations are not passively accepted by the director, board, parents or staff. Advocacy activities on behalf of high quality inclusive child care include appeals to civic organizations, work with government officials to change rules that limit the inclusion of children with special needs, and presentations on inclusion to staff, associations and community—these types of actions exemplify fully inclusive child care centres. We ask directors of children’s programs such probe questions as: (1) Does your centre try to change policies and funding arrangements that impede full inclusion? (2) If “yes,” What sorts of actions have you taken? (3) If “yes,” who is involved (such as the director, staff, board, and/or parents)?

Prebudget Consultations
Fall, 2007
The Government of Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance is holding pre-budget consultations across Canada this fall. SpeciaLink has prepared a brief that addresses inclusion of children with special needs, barriers faced by their parents, and the relationship to high quality child care and has forwarded this to Ottawa. Click here to download & read: SpeciaLink 2007 Submission.pdf

Dr Sharon Irwin will present our recommendations when the Committee meets in Halifax on Dec 6. If you want more information about how advocates for inclusive child care are responding to Government’s plans, join Code Blue for Child Care by visiting www.buildchildcare.ca

Please sign the declaration and pass this link on to anyone and everyone to get signatures! We need your signature and many more! http://www.institutionwatch.ca

SpeciaLink assesses Bill C303-encourages members to contact members of parliament
November 2006
As you may have already heard on November 22, Parliament gave the ‘green light’ to the child care act when the House of Commons voted by 144 to 116 for Bill C303 to send the legislation to Committee for review.

Bill C-303 An Act to establish criteria and conditions in respect of funding for early learning and child care programs in order to ensure the quality, accessibility, universality and accountability of those programs, and to appoint a council to advise the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development on matters relating to early learning and child care

The private member’s bill, introduced by MP Denise Savoie (NDP-Victoria), would create standards for child care much like the Canada Health Act does for medicare. The bill received the unanimous support of all NDP, Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MPs present in the House at the time of the vote. Conservative MPs and independent MP Garth Turner all voted nay. Prime Minister Harper was not in his seat.

SpeciaLink-the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion is especially pleased to note that children with special needs are included in several articles of the Bill, specifically

Universality
(4) In order to satisfy the criterion relating to universality, the early learning and child care program of a province or territory must ensure that all children resident in the province or territory are equally entitled to early learning and child care services that are appropriate to their needs.

Accessibility
(5) In order to satisfy the criterion relating to accessibility, the early learning and child care program of a province or territory must ensure that
(a) early learning and child care services are provided on terms and conditions that ensure reasonable access to those services by any child, including children with special needs;

REPORT TO PARLIAMENT
Contents of Report
(f) indicators of accessibility, such as eligibility criteria and numbers of children receiving subsidies, income levels of parents of children enrolled in early learning and child care services, percentage of children with special needs enrolled and numbers of children receiving services by urban, surburban and rural regions.

Email your MP about Bill C-303 http://www.buildchildcare.ca/action.php?submit=initiateAction&actionID=64 , a national child care act

Universalité
(4) Pour répondre au critère d’universalité, le programme d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants d’une province ou d'un territoire doit garantir que tous les enfants qui résident dans la province ou le territoire ont également droit à des services d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants qui répondent à leurs besoins. Accessibility (5) In order to satisfy the criterion relating to accessibility, the early learning and child care program of a province or territory must ensure that (a) early learning and child care services are provided on terms and conditions that ensure reasonable access to those services by any child, including children with special needs; Accessibilité (5) Pour répondre au critère d’accessibilité, le programme d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants d’une province ou d'un territoire doit faire en sorte : a) que les services d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants soient fournis selon des modalités uniformes qui n’empêchent pas un enfant, y compris celui ayant des besoins spéciaux, d’avoir accès à ces services;

Accessibilité
(5) Pour répondre au critère d’accessibilité, le programme d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants d’une province ou d'un territoire doit faire en sorte :
a) que les services d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants soient fournis selon des modalités uniformes qui n’empêchent pas un enfant, y compris celui ayant des besoins spéciaux, d’avoir accès à ces services;

RAPPORT AU PARLEMENT Contenu du rapport f) les indicateurs d’accessibilité, notamment les critères d’admissibilité aux subventions et le nombre d’enfants qui en bénéficient, le revenu des parents d’enfants inscrits aux services d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants, le pourcentage d’enfants inscrits ayant des besoins spéciaux et le nombre d’enfants inscrits par région urbaine, par banlieue et par région rurale.

Prebudget Consultations
Fall, 2006
The Government of Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance is holding pre-budget consultations across Canada this fall. SpeciaLink has prepared a brief that addresses inclusion of children with special needs, barriers faced by their parents, and the relationship to high quality child care. This is available in an executive summary (document) or you may wish to read the full brief at (document).

SpeciaLink has also been invited to Human Resources and Social Development Canada’s consultation with selected provincial officials, child care providers, employers, and policy analysts. We have shared the following concerns and questions about the federal Child Care Spaces Initiative:

• How will the federal government’s proposed incentives ensure that “builders” of the promised spaces accommodate access to children with disabilities?
• How will the higher costs related to space creation for children with disabilities be addressed?
• Finally, will there be monies available so that current spaces can be retrofitted in order to better accommodate children with special needs?

If you want more information about how advocates for inclusive child care are responding to Government’s plans, join Code Blue for Child Care by visiting www.buildchildcare.ca

Ensuring Inclusive Child Care
March 2006
SpeciaLink was supportive of the previous Government's commitment to the development of a national child care strategy based on the principles of Quality, Universally Inclusive, Accessible and Developmental. We have some concerns about how changes to the child care strategy, as proposed by the new government, will impact on children with disabilities and have written to Prime Minister Harper that a child care strategy must be inclusive of children with disabilities. [ Download the letter ]

The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC), a partner of SpeciaLink’s, has initiated a national campaign, Code Blue for Child Care, to advocate for a national child care programme in Canada.


Support for Inclusion
November 2005
Support Principle #2 “universally inclusive” in the f/p/t Agreements-in-Principle and in the detailed Action Plans.

Inclusivity of the Child Care Policy Environment in Canada:
Much Work to be Done.
July 2003
This report focuses on research conducted by The Roeher Institute for SpeciaLink, to examine child care policies in Canada and to construct and test a methodology for benchmarking the extent to which policy environments across Canada support the inclusion of children with disabilities in child care programs. The research highlights a very troubling scenario. Across the country, the healthy development of many of Canada's children, and not just children with disabilities, is put at risk because of inadequate policy, funding and programming for child care. Details

A Tool for Assessing Child Care/ECD Programs
July 2002
Canadian Association for Community Living’s instrument is intended to assist families to assess their child's child care or early child development program by a number of program elements and a set of recognised principles of best practice and inclusion that underpin the Social Union Framework Agreement (SUFA), the National Children's Agenda (NCA) and the Early Childhood Development Initiative (ECDI). The instrument is one tool that families can use to engage their communities and governments in discussions about needed ECD reforms and to hold them accountable for investments in healthy child development made under the ECDI. Service providers can also use the instrument to assess the inclusivity of their programs. The instrument is based on a framework that is fully inclusive of, and values all children regardless of differences in ability, gender, aboriginal status, ethnicity, language culture, etc. Details

SpeciaLink-the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
University of Winnipeg, 2E22-515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9
Phone: (204) 258-2901 · Toll Free: 1-866-902-6333 · Fax: (204) 786-7803
info@specialinkcanada.org

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