British Columbia’s Action Plan for fiscal year 2022 to 2023

Investment

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023: $10.2 million.

Addressed pressure

Indigenous children make up 9% of all children in BC. While the overall number of Indigenous children is low, these children and their families are more likely than non-Indigenous families to face barriers in accessing child care and are more likely to live in economically vulnerable situations. For example, 6 out of 10 Indigenous children live with both parents compared to 8 out of 10 non-Indigenous children^{Footnote 6}. Indigenous children in Canada account for 7.7% of all children aged 0 to 4 years, but they account for more than one‑half (51.2%) of all foster children aged 0 to 4.

The Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) program provides an evidence-based platform for early learning and child care programming for children aged 0 to 6 years and their families. Using a culturally relevant curriculum that includes language and culture, nutrition, school readiness and social supports, AHS provides wrap-around family support and inclusion services at no cost to Indigenous families. AHS sites provide child care for children aged 0 to 3 years and from 3 to 5 years, as well as preschool and drop-in/outreach services; AHS spaces are not offered to children over the age of 6. AHS child care offers a model of Indigenous-led child care that champions a holistic approach to services for Indigenous families.

A $30 million 3-year investment was directed to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and Aboriginal Head Start Association BC (AHSABC) to expand the AHS model to include child care and increase the number of AHS spaces in BC through the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 ELCC Agreement. Both capital and operational funding to support AHS space creation and operations was allocated. FNHA allocated funding to communities most in need based on population and current resources, and AHSABC selected communities based on demonstrated need and readiness to build and operate AHS programs. The demand for AHS’s initial call for applications came from over 120 communities. After operationalizing this funding, 643 spaces in 31 communities were created. An additional $10 million of federal funding was invested in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 to continue operating these AHS programs.

A total of 618 of the 643 spaces are currently operating. FNHA operates 19 sites with 340 operational spaces; AHSABC operates 12 sites representing 303 spaces, 278 of which are currently operational. The focus of funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 is the maintenance of operations for current sites to ensure continued service for families.

The mechanism

British Columbia will continue directing $3.57 million to FNHA and $6.63 million to AHSABC to continue AHS services in on and off-reserve communities. FNHA and AHSABC work collaboratively to provide oversight and quality assurance and to support capacity development and training at AHS sites. With continued ELCC investment, AHSABC and FNHA will provide ongoing operational funding for the existing AHS sites, totaling $10.2 million in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Continued funding of these programs aligns with the following government commitments:

• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act: specifically related to supporting the implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples articles on revitalization of, and access to, language and culture
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action: specifically calls for better coordination, respect for community drivers and increased prevention programming
• Indigenous Resilience, Connectedness and Reunification – From Root Causes to Root Solutions: A Report on Indigenous Child Welfare in BC (2016): specifically recommendations to expand prevention investments for Indigenous Families
• final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: specifically calls to provide long-term stable funding for wraparound services

Impacts

With an investment of $10.20 million in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, AHS sites will not need to re-apply for annual operating funds and will continue offering no-cost early learning and care services to Indigenous children and families. Families will continue to have access to infant and toddler, group and multi-age care as well as enhanced staffing to create inclusive environments and outreach family support.

The selection of the AHS sites includes rural and remote communities, First Nations communities, Aboriginal Friendship Centres and urban organizations and Métis organizations across the province.

* Approximately 7% of the $10.2 million in annual funding for Priority 2: underserved communities will be used for administrative costs in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Investment

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023: $26.8 million.

Addressed pressure

Inclusive child care means that all children, including children who are neurodiverse, children with a disability, and children with other support needs, can fully participate alongside their peers in a regular child care program. BC is focusing on increasing capacity across the child care sector for inclusive child care through: (1) building capacity by supporting increased knowledge and skills among child care providers; and (2) increasing access to inclusive child care supports through the Supported Child Development (SCD) and Aboriginal Supported Child Development (ASCD) programs.

SCD and ASCD are community-based programs that offer a range of consulting and support services to children, families, and child care centres, enabling children with support needs to participate in fully inclusive child care settings. SCD and ASCD programs provide services that assess children with support needs, create individual plans, provide guidance to child care centres and, where needed, fund extra staffing within the child care centre. ASCD programs support unique Indigenous service needs and are responsive to local Indigenous culture and communities.

The fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 Canada-BC ELCC agreement provided an enhancement of $10 million annually to SCD and ASCD programs. This funding was intended to reduce wait times for families and provide increased service. Based on an estimated average cost of $7,000 per child, the $10 million annual investment was anticipated to create access for 1,428 children.

A significant limitation of the above estimate was that it did not account for children on the existing caseload who were needing an increased level of service. Families of children with support needs are often offered reduced child care hours when the SCD or ASCD support allocation does not meet the needs for full-time child care. Comparison of fiscal year 2017 to 2018 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020 data suggests that the $10 million ELCC annual enhancement resulted in the following:

• an average of 1,191 more children being served each month, improving overall access to inclusive child care
• a 30% average increase in direct service hours across all children accessing SCD and ASCD, enabling access to increased hours of child care

While the number of new children being served was lower than anticipated, data indicated a significant increase in direct service hours across the program. These findings suggest that the $10 million annual funding enhancement was directed both at reducing wait times and addressing unmet needs for children already on an SCD or ASCD program caseload. The fiscal year 2020 to 2021 and fiscal year 2021 to 2022 Canada-BC ELCC agreements continued this $10 million annual funding enhancement, with the intention of maintaining SCD and ASCD service levels. In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, the average number of children served each month dropped to 6,264, reflecting decreased service early in the pandemic. Preliminary data indicate that service levels returned to pre-pandemic (fiscal year 2019 to 2020) levels in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

To address unmet need and growing demand, funding under the Bilateral ELCC Agreement for Supported Child Development and Aboriginal Supported Child Development Programs is increasing to $26.80 million in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Reports from the field indicate these programs continue to be oversubscribed and that children may wait up to a year for service, limiting their participation in child care. Demand for these programs will continue to grow as the number of child care spaces grows. The BC Association of Child Development and Intervention reports that families wait an average of 175 days, or more than half a year, for enhanced staffing supports to enable access to child care^{Footnote 7}.

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, BC allocated $16.8 million in one-time-only provincial funding as an interim measure to assist with the demand for SCD and ASCD services. Beginning in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the Canada–British Columbia Canada-wide-ELCC agreement is providing a further $15 million enhancement to SCD and ASCD programs, which will focus both on enabling capacity building for inclusive child care among child care providers and expanding service. The additional $16.8 million investment under the BC ELCC Agreement in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to enhance the existing $10 million investment is required in addition to the Canada–British Columbia Canada-wide ELCC investment to address the current wait times and growing demand.

The mechanism

The enhanced funding for SCD and ASCD programs in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 will enable more families to access services and where needed, increase the hours of support for some children who are already receiving services.

Although the current programs are not limited to children under the age of 6, it is estimated that almost 70% of the current program resources are utilized to support these younger children. SCD funds are delivered to contracted agencies within communities, and these agencies determine how to allocate the resources based on local needs. Under these programs, children under the age of 6 are generally given higher priority than school-age children in the allocation of resources and supports.

Communities with diverse and unique needs including Indigenous communities, minority language and cultural groups, and French speaking communities benefit from these specialized supports to access inclusive child care settings as needed. Additionally, ASCD services are delivered within a cultural model, respecting traditional protocol, language and traditions^{Footnote 8}.

Impacts

In fiscal year 2017 to 2018, Ministry data identified an estimated average monthly caseload of 5,975 children and their families for SCD and ASCD programs, at any given point in time. By fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the $10 million investment had resulted in an average of 1,191 more children accessing SCD and ASCD services each month than during the baseline year (fiscal year 2017 to 2018), for a total average of 7,166 served each month. In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, the average number of children served each month dropped to 6,264 as a result of the pandemic. Preliminary data indicate that service levels will return to pre-pandemic (fiscal year 2019 to 2020) levels in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

Increasing funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 for these supports is expected to serve an average of 1,500 more children per month compared to pre-pandemic numbers (fiscal year 2019 to 2020 data). Enhancing SCD and ASCD programs will enable more children and families to access more hours of inclusive child care.

An enhancement to SCD/ASCD will be used to address the following funding goals:

• increase the number of children served by ASCD/SCD each month, resulting in reduction of wait times for children and families and enabling increased access to inclusive child care
• where need is identified, increase the number of service hours by increasing consultation services and/or enhanced staffing supports to children currently receiving services
• where possible, address service disparity between ASCD and SCD programs

* Estimates.

Investment

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023: $1.20 million (carried over from fiscal year 2021 to 2022).

Addressed pressure

Many families with children in BC face long wait-lists to access child care services in their community, close to home, work or school. Across BC there are enough licensed child care spaces for approximately 20% of children aged 0 to 12 years old. Due to a lack of affordable child care, many parents struggle to find care to cover a full work-day even after children start kindergarten.

The province has been working with school districts to address the lack of child care spaces, and Boards of Education have become involved in supporting and creating child care spaces in schools and on school property. Studies show that having child care at schools ensures smoother transitions for children and better educational outcomes, and it also helps parents with a single drop off and pick-up location.

Schools and districts are already involved in creating child care spaces on school grounds. Since 2018, 118 projects in school districts across the province were approved to receive provincial funding through the Childcare BC New Spaces Fund and Rapid Renovation fund to create more than 5,700 new child care spaces on school grounds for children aged 0 to 12 years.^{Footnote 9} In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, there were an estimated 19,600 child care spaces in public schools or on public school grounds for school-aged children and 2,900 child care spaces in independent schools or on independent school grounds for a total of 22,500 school age spaces on school property. In addition, there were an estimated 16,400 child care spaces for younger children, contributing to a total of 38,900 spaces for all children 0 to 12 years old in or on school grounds.^{Footnote 10}

Currently, Boards of Education have no mandate and varying levels of knowledge related to child care in their communities. Boards of Education will need additional resources to:

• consider how early care and learning is currently situated in their districts
• build a strong foundation in early care and learning for students through partnerships and infrastructure planning

The completion of early care and learning environmental scans may support Boards of Education in facilitating future child care space creation projects to meet identified needs, including consideration for culturally-relevant services for Indigenous families and inclusive spaces for children with support needs.

The scans were outlined in BC’s ELCC fiscal year 2021 to 2022 action plan and were planned to be completed by March 31, 2022. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on staff time and resources, school districts did not have capacity to complete early care and learning environmental scans in fiscal year 2021 to 2022; therefore, BC received approval from the Government of Canada to defer this deliverable into fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

The mechanism

Boards of Education would receive funding and support to complete an early care and learning scan. Taking inspiration from the Equity in Action^{Footnote 11} project currently underway in school districts across the province, Boards of Education would be expected to conduct an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of their early care and learning programs and policies. A full-scale review ensures that at a governance level, a learning environment level, and a learner level, early care and learning is represented and integrated into the district system, culture, and processes:

• governance level: review of Board policies, contracts, resource allocation, and staffing
• community level: review and engagement with partner organizations who support early care and learning on school grounds
• environment level: review and inventory of early care and learning programs on school grounds

Boards of Education would be expected to connect with local governments^{Footnote 12} to consider any child care needs assessments completed at a municipal or regional level and with local Child Care Resource and Referral Centres related to any inventory or information they have regarding early care and learning needs in the community.

Boards of Education would partner with urban Indigenous communities, local First Nations and Métis partners in the region and/or Aboriginal Head Start programs or the Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC to ensure the environmental scan and planning exercises fully consider the needs of Indigenous children and families and supports the development of Indigenous-led child care for Indigenous children and families.

The funding will be split between the 60 school districts, with the exact amount provided to each school district taking the following into consideration:

• aligning funding with child enrolment, number of schools, district size
• increased funding for rural and remote communities that may have increased costs
• increased funding for large, urban districts that may have increased planning needs

Impacts

Up to 60 school districts in BC would be invited to complete an early care and learning environmental scan that could support future child care space creation projects to meet identified needs in their community. This could support the development of new child care spaces in up to 60 school districts across the province.

School districts are representative of the diverse and localized needs of their communities. An early care and learning environmental scan would help them to identify the early learning and child care needs of Indigenous communities, minority language and cultural groups and French speaking communities in their region.

School districts vary in their understanding of early learning and child care. Conducting an environmental scan will build district capacity, support community partnership, and represents a strong first step in integrating child care into the broader learning environment.

Investment

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023: $0.00M.^{Footnote 13}

Addressed pressure

A key goal under BC’s plan to introduce universal child care in BC is to improve the quality of child care programs within BC’s child care system. Since 2018, BC has taken action to increase compensation and improve education and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators and other early care and learning professionals. Currently, there is no standard quality assessment framework for use in reflecting and evaluating child care program quality in BC, including programming provided at $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites. The development of 1 or more quality frameworks would support the investments that have already been made towards quality by supporting continuous quality improvement and ensuring accountability for public investments in child care.

Due to the delay in agreement funding in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the ability to develop a quality assessment framework for child care was not achievable by March 31, 2022. Deferring this deliverable into fiscal year 2022 to 2023 would delay implementation of this pilot in existing $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites, by possibly up to 1 year.

The mechanism

The province would work with a third-party contractor to support the selection and development or modification of 1 or more quality assessment/program evaluation frameworks that could be used to support quality and continuous improvement on an ongoing basis, starting with $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites. This would be a multi-year project and funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 would be used to work with the sector and to evaluate existing quality assessment frameworks, select 1 or more frameworks to use or modify, complete agreed upon modifications to the framework(s) and incorporate feedback. This work will take place in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, and piloting at $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites is planned for fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

The selection and modification process will involve working closely with Indigenous partners and rightsholders to ensure the framework that is selected is appropriate for use in Indigenous child care settings or that a framework with a specific Indigenous lens is available for use in Indigenous communities and Indigenous child care settings.

The evaluation process will require ensuring the framework or frameworks are appropriate for different types of child care including licensed group, licensed family and licensed multi-age care and in different locations such as rural and remote communities and Indigenous communities. The evaluation will also consider how the assessment framework would be implemented and how to best support child care programs in completing their assessments.

Impacts

A quality assessment framework would be developed that could be used in all licensed child care settings (group, family, multi-age), in rural, remote and Indigenous communities, by minority language and French language child care settings and would be appropriate in settings that care for children with support needs.

Indicators of success for Priority 5: Quality Assessment Framework for Child Care

Development of Quality Assessment Framework(s)

• A quality assessment framework is selected and finalized for use in all licensed child care settings (group, family, multi-age) and in rural and remote communities and is culturally appropriate for use in Indigenous child care settings

Investment (fiscal year 2022 to 2023)

• $0.00 million

Investment

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023: $0.15 million (carried forward from fiscal year 2021 to 2022).

Addressed pressure

BC transitioned responsibility for child care into the Ministry of Education and Child Care in April 2022 and is actively working towards the implementation of a universal child care system that will provide child care for every child and family who needs or wants it. BC is in the midst of implementing this transition and could benefit from learning from other jurisdictions who have integrated their child care and education departments, who are leaders in the early care and learning field and who have implemented successful low-cost models of early care and learning.

While the Early Care Learning Summit was expected to take place in the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year, the event was deferred to fiscal year 2022 to 2023 due to COVID-19 restrictions and given the pending transition of the Child Care Division to the Ministry of Education.

The mechanism

The Ministry of Education and Child Care will collaborate to plan and host the Early Care and Learning Summit in January 2023. The summit will be an opportunity to engage the education and child care sectors in dialogue around policy and practice based lessons learned through the integration of early care and learning, both across Canada and around the world. This forum will also serve as an opportunity celebrate the alignment of child care and education in British Columbia.

Experts from BC, Canada and around the world will meet to discuss challenges and propose solutions to building and sustain high quality early education. Sessions will explore:

• evidence-based change in policy and global development and its connection to improving education, child development, and outcomes for children
• evaluations of current policy and program changes at all levels of government and across Canada, through the integration of child care into Ministries of Education
• effective policies and practices to further professionalize Early Childhood Educators
• increasing inclusiveness of early childhood education systems and settings
• building equity, the public advantage and the workforce in early care and learning
• lessons learned from the integration of child care within Ministries of Education

These topics will be highlighted by international experts. Invitees may include experts from Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Norway, Australia, and Sweden. Canadian expertise may include contributions from Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and their work on systems change with a focus on continuity of learning from birth to age 12. BC experts will contribute innovative initiatives that are currently being implemented to ensure that all children and families can benefit from quality, inclusive care, that is integrated within an aligned early care and learning system.

Impacts

BC will learn from other jurisdictions internationally and in Canada who have successfully integrated or are working on integrating child care into Ministries of Education and who are leaders in the early care and learning field. BC will be able to utilize information and knowledge gained through this summit to support planning and development as BC moves towards the implementation of a universal child care system and towards the integration of child care in the Ministry of Education. This summit will also support networking across the education and child care sectors and the development of connections that could support continued engagement and support as BC transitions to a new child care model.

Innovation

Innovation is vital to achieving BC's commitment to implementing a 10 year universal child care plan. The province has committed to making life more affordable, delivering services that people count on, and doing so in a sustainable and innovative way. This action plan lays out several new ways of doing things in response to these commitments.

Summary of innovative measures

Initiative: $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres: operational funding

• Innovation: Targeted operational grants: operators will continue to receive new grants enabling them to offer families significantly reduced-cost child care spaces, up to a maximum of $200 per month

Initiative: Indigenous child care

• Innovation: New funding arrangements: In order to better coordinate services provided within Indigenous communities, funds available to the province will continue to flow through 2 existing Indigenous organizations that have expertise in Indigenous-led early learning and child care. The investment approach exemplifies planning that is community driven and co-developed with several partners

Knowledge

Under the terms of the ELCC Multilateral Agreement, BC has committed to continue to work with Canada and the other provinces and territories to contribute to research and the general understanding of what works for providing quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive early learning and child care in Canada.

The province is committed to accounting for the new funding provided by Canada and to report on the success of the new initiatives and enhancements to current programs and services.

Summary of fiscal year 2022 to 2023 investments

Priority: Maintain enhanced affordability by subsidizing the ongoing operational costs of $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres

• Initiative: $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres: operations
• Investment: $32.00 million of dollars
• Expected impacts: Families will continue to benefit from significantly reduced parent fees while accessing 2,500 licensed child care spaces

Priority: Enhance access to inclusive, affordable and flexible child care programs to some underserved communities with targeted program supports

• Initiative: Indigenous child care
• Investment: $10.20 million of dollars
• Expected impacts: Approximately 643 spaces will continue to provide culturally-based Indigenous services (12 urban sites with 303 spaces, and 19 on-reserve sites with 340 spaces)

Priority: Enhance access to inclusive, affordable and flexible child care programs to some underserved communities with targeted program supports

• Initiative: Children with support needs
• Investment: $26.80 million of dollars
• Expected impacts: The previous $10M enhancement will be maintained to continue serving an average of 1,191 children per month. The additional $16.8M enhancement is expected to serve an additional 1,500 children per month, for a total of 2,692 children more that the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 baseline. This investment will significantly increase access to inclusive child care

Priority: Support planning that will facilitate improved access to child care through the development of new child care spaces in School Districts in future years

• Initiative: Implementation of early learning and child care environmental scans by School Districts
• Investment: $1.20 million of dollars^{Footnote 14}
• Expected impacts: The implementation of early learning and child care environmental scans in 60 school districts in BC would support future child care space creation projects to meet the needs identified in their community

Priority: Develop 1 or more quality assessment frameworks that will support improvements to the quality of care provided in $10/day child care settings

• Initiative: Development of quality assessment framework for $10 per day sites
• Investment: $0.22 million of dollars in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, $0 million of dollars in fiscal year 2022 to 2023
• Expected impacts: 1 or more quality assessment frameworks is/are developed that could be used in all licensed child care settings (group, family, multi-age), in rural and remote communities and that is culturally appropriate for use in Indigenous child care settings

Priority: Plan and host the Early Care and Learning Summit to support learnings that will facilitate the implementation of a high-quality universal child care system

• Initiative: Plan and host the Early Care and Learning Summit
• Investment: $0.15 million of dollars^{Footnote 15}
• Expected impacts: BC will gain information and knowledge that can support planning and development as BC moves towards the implementation of a universal child care system and the integration of child care in the Ministry of Education. BC will also make valuable connections in the early care and learning field that could support BC as it transitions to a new child care model

Details of expected results: indicators and targets

The following indicators and targets will be utilized to track and report on results.

Initiative: $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres: operations

• Indicator: The number of children benefiting from affordable child care spaces, including the number of children from underserved communities (Indigenous families, families with children with extra support needs, and young parents completing their secondary education)
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): 2,500 children
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes

Initiative: Indigenous child care

• Indicator: Number of child care spaces providing culturally-based Indigenous services, including number of spaces on and off reserve
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): 643 child care spaces
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes

Initiative: Children with support needs

• Indicator: Number of children with support needs who will access supported child development programs
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): Maintaining 1,191 additional children on average per month
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes

Initiative: Early care and learning environmental scans

• Indicator: Number of early care and learning scans completed
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): 60 scans
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes

Initiative: Quality assessment framework

• Indicator: Development of 1 or more quality assessment frameworks that would be used to evaluate $10 per day sites, including in Indigenous child care settings
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): Quality assessment tool(s) developed
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes

Initiative: Early care and learning summit

• Indicator: Plan and host a successful 2 day in-person and/or virtual summit with national and international experts in the field of early care and learning
• Targets (by March 31, 2023): Early Care and Learning Summit hosted. Expected participants: 250 to 500
• Annual report (fiscal year 2022 to 2023): Yes