Access to licensed childcare in Centre Wellington remains 'extremely low'

BELWOOD – The township of Centre Wellington needs help to address its childcare needs and is looking to the County of Wellington for support. 

Supporting staff recommendations for a collaborative approach to childcare planning, funding, administration and operations led by the County of Wellington at a council meeting Monday afternoon, Centre Wellington councillors have directed staff to send a letter to the county encouraging county council to consider investigating building childcare facilities.

Council also voted to defer decisions on future outdoor recreation needs in Belwood until the ongoing Parks and Recreation Plan is completed. 

"I think we've all come to the realization (licensed childcare is) a really important file not only for our community but for the county as well," said Mayor Shawn Watters, who had previously made a notice of motion to investigate additional childcare facilities in Belwood. "I think we have a real opportunity with the working of between the county and developers and ourselves to provide a much-needed resource and potential facilities in our community." 

According to a report on Belwood childcare from CAO Dan Wilson, there are no current plans to build or operate additional childcare centres in Wellington County but the county has shared they are open to ongoing discussions and potential partnerships as "they see the need for childcare in Centre Wellington and the rest of the county."

When listing other potential partnerships, Wilson's report said a church board member in Belwood contacted the township about the opportunity for childcare services to be operated out of the church space. 

The YMCA has also shared an interest in partnering with the township to explore recreation and childcare needs in Centre Wellington. 

Provincial funding is occasionally available for childcare facility construction but is "less recurring."

"Centre Wellington has been identified as a high priority for the expansion of licensed childcare based on the federal and provincial government's commitment to providing families with access to high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and childcare no matter where they live," said Wilson in the report. 

Wilson's report said the benefits of partnering with the county include development charges for childcare facility construction. 

Currently under review, $6 from County development charges for each single-detached or semi-detached dwelling built in the County is allocated to child care with the ability to charge a higher amount if the County decides to fund the construction of additional childcare facilities. This is compared to $1,644 for libraries. 

"The way development charges work, you have to show a need for something and plan for the construction of that need. So from a childcare perspective, the county would have to say yes, we plan on constructing one, two, three childcare facilities in the short term or in the medium term and that allows you to plan for that in your development charges," said Wilson, during the meeting. 

Centre Wellington has a licensed childcare access rate of 17.8 per cent which staff said is considered "extremely low" compared to Wellington-Guelph's average rate of 23.3 per cent and Ontario's target access rate of 37 per cent.

The township had four full-day, full-year licensed child care centres serving infant, toddler and preschool age groups as of June 2023: a county-operated program in Aboyne, a program at J.D. Hogarth Public School in Fergus operated by the Community Resource Centre and two programs run by a for-profit provider in Fergus and Elora. 

There are also six licensed home childcare providers in Centre Wellington, each responsible for a maximum of six children. 

In Centre Wellington, J.D Hogarth in Fergus is the only school with a licensed childcare centre attached to it.  There are a few before and after-school childcare programs at existing sites. 

Increasing by 9.7 per cent since 2016, children aged birth to four represent four per cent of the township's overall population. 

Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.