Every five years, the Department of Education undertakes a review of the Child Care Act and its related regulations to consider areas that may be improved. As part of this legislative review process, the Department is seeking input from the Early Learning and Child Care sector and the public on the legislation and programs that support regulated child care services in Newfoundland and Labrador.
While the last legislative review was completed in July 2017, there have been significant changes and developments in the regulated early learning and child care sector since.
In January 2021, the Provincial Government introduced $25 per day regulated child care, making the province a leader in affordable child care in Canada. This was supported through changes to the operating grant program for child care service providers, including the introduction of an operating grant program for family home child care providers to lessen the financial impact of these changes.
In 2021, the Government of Canada announced a $30 billion federal investment in child care, with a focus on affordability, accessibility and quality. On July 28, the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador announced an agreement that will transform early learning and child care in the province. Through this agreement, Newfoundland and Labrador will receive more than $347 million between 2021-22 and 2025-26 to implement its Early Learning and Child Care Action Plan, which will result in increased access to child care, improved affordability and improvements in the quality and inclusivity of programming (Click here to view the News Release). There are specific questions on this program in Section Two: Ongoing Opportunities and Challenges for Regulated Child Care, and feedback from the entire consultation will help inform our priorities as we undertake these discussions.
Get Involved
Early learning and child care remains a significant focus of the Provincial Government. As we continue to explore further enhancements to affordability, accessibility and quality there are three areas where we are seeking your feedback:
1. The transition from unregulated to regulated child care services
Despite the numerous benefits of becoming a regulated child care service provider, there are still numerous unregulated operations in the sector. We want to hear from unregulated child care operators to help identify the reasons for choosing not to become regulated. We also welcome feedback from regulated child care services about challenges they may have faced in becoming regulated and ideas about what could be done to address those challenges.
2. Ongoing opportunities and challenges for regulated child care services.
While there has been recent focus and investment, the provincial government recognizes that there is always more that can be done to support regulated child care providers, early childhood educators and families with children participating in child care settings. We want to hear from regulated child care service providers to help identify what current supports are helpful to the sector, what more we can do to support the sector and if there are any policy or regulation changes that we could make to ease administrative burden or any other pressures without impacting the quality, health and safety of those services. We also want to hear from parents with children in regulated child care services who have perspectives on how we can support the sector.
3. Potential enhancements to the Child Care Act and regulations (legislative review).
The Child Care Act and its associated regulations set the parameters for the operations of regulated child care services in Newfoundland and Labrador. Every five years, the Act and the Regulations are required to be reviewed in legislation, and updates are made to ensure that the Act and its Regulations and policies remain relevant to the current realities of the early learning and child care sector. We want sector stakeholders to provide their input as part of this legislative review.
In providing your input, you can complete questionnaires on one, two, or all three of these topics depending on your interest and your ideas. Each questionnaire includes information for consideration, and has a list of questions for input. Click the topics below to complete the appropriate questionnaire. Once complete you will have the opportunity to come back and complete the questionnaires for the other topics:
If you have any issues accessing the questionnaire, have any questions, or require an alternate format, please contact the Department of Education by email at [email protected].
If you prefer to participate with a written contribution, please submit your response by August 27, 2021.
Written submissions can be sent by:
Mail: Child Care Consultations, Division of Early Learning and Child Development
The information we receive will be reviewed by the Department of Education. All feedback will be considered as the Department undertakes a legislative review of the Child Care Act, as well as during policy discussions relating to the child care sector over the coming year.
Privacy Statement
The collection of information is done under the authority of section 61(c) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015, for the purpose of collecting public input as part of the legislated review of the Child Care Act and its regulations and to inform policy decisions relating to the child care sector.
Any personal information that may be received will be governed in accordance with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 and will only be used for the purpose of informing the consultation.
If you have any questions about how this information will be collected, used and disclosed, please contact Kim Anstey-Stockwood, Manager of Information Services, at 729-7425 or by email at [email protected].
Contact Us
If you have any questions or additional comments regarding the early learning and child care sector, please contact [email protected].
