By rdnewsNOW staff

Legislation tabled

Alberta looks to update child care programs, accessibility

Oct 29, 2020 | 11:16 AM

Changes to the provincial Early Learning and Child Care Act being proposed by the government will improve transparency for parents, encourage digital record-keeping and allow for overnight child care.

In a release, the government says the legislation will increase quality and safety in child care programs, work toward more flexibility and transparency for parents and simplify language and rules for operators.

“We’ve worked with child care operators and educators to improve the standard care for children and create a more modern and flexible approach to child care programs. We want less paper work for operators so they can spend more time supporting children,” Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz.

The bill, if passed, would also implement risk-based licensing so that licensing teams can focus more time on programs needing support and replace previous accreditation standards with new guiding principles in legislation including quality, safety, well-being, inclusion and child development.

It will also simplify and clarify language and rules for operators and provide updated resources for parents and operators.

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This is the first consultation on the Act in more than a decade and included parents, caregivers, early childhood educators, child care operators and licensing staff.

The Opposition NDP says this new legislation does nothing to recognize and support that child care is about early learning.

“If we want a strong, diversified economy, we need to invest in the quality of early education for our children,” said Children’s Services Critic Rakhi Pancholi. “Albertans need affordable, accessible and quality child care. To get families of young children, particularly women, back to work – this is key. The UCP must do more to support child care and early learning. Our families depend on it. Our economy depends on it.”