Petition Tag - childcare

Time has taken its toll on the grand old lady by the sea, and the Club is no longer sustainable in its current form.

Harbord Diggers has conducted extensive research and ongoing consultation to find out what the community needs - from Seniors Living and childcare facilities, to a state-of-the-art fitness club, and an entertainment venue with top-class facilities capitalising on spectacular views.

Now is the time for A New Dawn For the Diggers.

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At the end of March, 2012, 77 vulnerable children will lose out on their chance for the kind of care and early learning that often means the difference between a life on the streets and the ability to earn a living wage. The research shows that children who start behind, stay behind.

These kids drop out school and join the cycle of poverty that has plagued inner-city neighbourhoods such as Strathcona. Funding from the province has enabled Ray-Cam Community Centre to provide early learning and care for inner-city children and their families. This money has meant that even children who require extra staff supports can benefit from a positive child care experience. Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder, and a multitude of other health and social challenges can learn and grow in a supported and caring neighbourhood environment.

Judy McGuire of the Ray Cam Board of Directors reports that “Our Board of Directors contacted the minister back on November 5th, 2011, when we were notified that our contract would not be renewed. After months of waiting for a response, Minister McNeil still hasn’t responded. This is a crisis. We need help now.”

See the CBC news story here:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/BC/1258521056/ID=2197863020

See the CKNW news story here:

http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1656186

See our video of the press conference here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_ALAhi_IZ8&feature=player_embedded#!

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The Bayside City Council has announced it will close its only community-based childcare centres in Hampton and Sandringham.

This decision was made by the Council without consulting with staff, families or the Bayside community.

These not for profit centres have provided an essential service to Bayside families for over 30 years, and their closure will force 160 families to find alternative care. Private centres have already indicated they will not be able to respond to the overwhelming demand for places.

Disabled and at risk children have not been considered. The centres currently provide priority access for these children and a high standard of care not available elsewhere.

35 employees will lose their jobs – many have worked in the centres for 10 years or more.

The Council has not offered any alternative options for families requiring childcare.

Please sign this petition to show your support in our attempts to prevent the closure of these two much loved and needed facilities.

If you would like to join our mailing list and stay updated, please email us at saveourcentres@gmail.com

Thank you.

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It has been announced that funding will stop on the 31st December 2011 for for the Take a Break Occasional Child Care program provided at neighbourhood houses and community centres across Victoria.

This program provides a valuable service for carers to take a short break, they are affordable to all and encourage stronger, closer more caring communities.

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The UCR Child Development Center released a letter to families participating in the subsidized child care program in mid April 2011. The program has provided more than a 70% reduction to low income families to allow their children the opportunity to a quality education in a safe and nurturing environment – an opportunity that most of the families would not have otherwise had.

The letter stated the subsidized program will no longer be offered to faculty and staff families (student staff will remain on the program) effective June 2011 giving the families less than two months to come up with an alternative plan for their children.

If action is not taken these families will not have the quality child care needed to continue to nourish their children’s education and social skills.

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Our local playgroup has been running at Rivaldsgreen Centre for over 30 years. The playgroup faces closure after snow damaged the building.

A repaired Rivaldsgreen Centre (mostly covered by insurance) would provide much needed space for the playgroup and other community groups. Please sign to help keep our playgroup and keep it local. Thank you!

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As part of their proposed cuts to Early Years Services for pre-school children, Camden Council plan to close two directly-funded Children's Centres in the Borough.

One of these is Acol Children's Centre in Acol Road, London NW6, an 'outstanding' Ofsted-rated, centre with nearly 25 years' history serving the community of South and West Hampstead, Kilburn and surrounding areas.

Hundreds of local children have received wonderful pre-school care and education at Acol, and it continues to be hugely popular and over-subscribed, with six children on the waiting list for every place available.

We feel very strongly that there is a continuing and ever-growing demand in the area for the kind of affordable and high-quality childcare Acol provides, and are campaigning to persuade Camden Council to change their minds and keep it open for our community.

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Camden Council are planning to cut £2.8 million from play services and £3.2 million from early years services over the next three years.

Under the proposals, most 3 and 4 year olds will see free nursery education provision reduced from 25 hours to the statutory minimum of 15 hours. All council play centres will close, and the council will stop providing breakfast and after school clubs in schools.

These services are the only substantial source of affordable childcare in the borough. They are invaluable to working families and vital in helping women return to work. Camden play centres provide a crucial community link for the parents of young children. They are a key site for promoting social cohesion and fostering community understanding.

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In April 1, 2010 new changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program were implemented.

The Live-in Caregiver Program is an immigration program used by Canadian families to hire overseas caregivers and nannies when there is a lack of Canadian or Permanent residents available locally.

Canadian employers are now required to pay for all recruitment fees if using a recruitment agency, airfare to the location of work in Canada, temporary medical insurance and workers compensation.

To put all the cost on the hiring family is unfair, leaves the program unbalanced, and provides no protection to Canadian families in the event that the placement not work out. In some cases a caregiver has been known to use a family simply to get to Canada, with no intention of working for them, and leaves shortly after for a more appealing employer, such as one with less children or living in a more urban location and closer to friends or relatives.

This has left Canadian families at extreme risk of being taken advantage of by unsuitable candidates, potentially losing thousands of dollars on a placement which doesn’t work out.

The changes were initiated to bring the LCP in line with the temporary foreign worker program. However, unlike large corporations who bring in temporary foreign workers, Canadian families cannot claim back the caregiver’s travel expenses on their taxes.

Requiring employers to pay for all recruitment fees will also risk forcing legitimate recruitment agencies to go overseas, where the Canadian government has no jurisdiction. This will not help caregivers working in Canada, who rely on good agencies for advice and assistance, and will take away jobs and tax revenues in Canada.

We strongly encourage the Canadian Government to provide relief to Canadian families seeking affordable child care, by exploring options to minimize the risks currently being faced when participating on the Live-in Caregiver Program.

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On 8th June 2010, parents and nursery staff were told by a member of Goldsmiths College’s Senior Management Team that in 3 months’ time, they plan to completely close the college’s nursery. Staff and Students have asked for an enquiry into the handling of the whole matter. Meetings informing staff and students were only announced with 24 hours notice, resulting in inevitably poor attendance at meetings crucial to the livelihood of many staff and students.

The atmosphere in the Nursery is special; educational, creative, friendly and safe. It is very rare to find the kind of care, support and attention to children that you find at Goldsmiths Nursery. It is a central part of College life, and should be respected and nurtured as such. The kind of care offered enables staff to return to work after maternity leave and students to return to their studies as parents, in the full knowledge that their children will be well looked after, nearby and safe.

If College is committed to Equal Opportunities and encouraging the best professional women and men in the workplace, then the issue of childcare provision is highly pertinent. The lack of adequate on-site childcare is a classic barrier to women in terms of career development, but, conversely, the provision of high-quality childcare is a valuable incentive. Taking away the Nursery, especially when there is no comparable local provision (and Ofsted ranks the Goldsmiths Nursery as ‘good’) is a shot in the foot.

The college’s decision to close the Nursery has a history. In 2008, the College presented parents and staff with plans to outsource nursery provision but was a bungle, and arose from some previous, ill-formed plan to relocate the Nursery in a new building. The business plan for this was flawed, but the discrepancy between estimates and quotes for the new build was never investigated and these plans were suddenly jettisoned, without letting staff and users know. Staff protested against this and were reassured by the college’s Senior Management Team that, ’as [they] move forward [they] will be consulting with staff and nursery users and keeping [us] closely informed’. This has not, however, been the case.

The timing of the closure for September leaves staff and students with no childcare provision and some term time only staff with almost immediate dismissal, and although a letter distributed by the College states that they will do ‘what [they] can to support parents with children in the Nursery who will have to make alternative childcare arrangements’, how is this to happen? Surely alternative arrangements should have been put in place before we were abandoned? At the very least, parents and staff should be given another year to make other arrangements. Students who have already started courses will have to take time out from their studies in September and Nursery staff should be given time to consider their options. As all parents know, the waiting list for a good nursery is at least a year.

More recently (2009), a Working Party was set up by the College, to look at the ways in which the Nursery could become cost-neutral and sustainable. However, the college dismissed the Working Party’s suggestions without full or proper investigation or explanation.

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Nationwide, there are State run agencies who are supposed to be protecting abused children in dangerous situations. Each State has many different titles for them. All of them are main stapled as CPS (Child Protective Services). For example, in Texas they're known as DFPS. (Department of Family and Protective Services)

While there is an important need to find abused children and to protect them, the current system is only finding a small percentage of those truly abused children. The rest of their statistics that guarantee a high departmental income are from families who never abused their children. Where they get this income and the sources of information will be posted after the next paragraph.

I am not calling for an abolishment of CPS. What I am petitioning for is an overhaul and restructure to bring them in line with lawful investigation practices, to maintain Constitutional Rights and proper training for Agents who never had children, and psychological evaluations to find and replace the Agents who were themselves abused as Children and see abuse in every home regardless of the situation. This is not, I repeat, not a rare occurrence. I will supply statistics to support this and how this has escalated. I will also supply the sources.

Departmental income has become more important to CPS and their offices than actually finding abused children and protecting them. Each and every time they remove a child from the home, they get paid from the Federal Government. Here they are:
1. Public Law 93-247 known as the Mondale Act of 1974.
2. Public Law 96-272 known as the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980
3. Social Security Title IV-E funds.

The ASFA- Public Law 105-89 known as American Safe Families Act of 1997 is one of the most horrific laws on the books today. While it sounds nice in the title, when you get through the legal jargon, what this means is so wrong. If you ever had a child removed from your house by CPS, even UNFOUNDED and you are innocent, they will take that child in minutes after the child is born! Babies are highly adoptable and the Federal Government pays out $6,000 to the CPS office who conducts the legal kidnapping and gets them adopted quickly without regards to the biological Mother and her family. Since she was investigated once, they do this in the "best interests of the child" as she is a "potential" abuser. The largest targeted types of families are folks with low incomes, children on SSI and are minorities. If you even have one of those three issues, you are a target for CPS to illegally investigate you. While these things are a surefire magnet, they have been known to do illegal investigations against families if they were reported falsely with malicious intent. Example is an ex-wife wants to get even with her ex-husband and his new family; she could report them and put them through Hell.

Why are the reasons CPS Agents actually find so little true abuse?
1. Agents who never had children and don't understand that a few toys in the corner of the room is not a hazardous mess.
2. Agents are not trained in real evidence recognition. In fact, no Agent in CPS has any training in evidence, the Constitution or criminal justice. They are given anywhere from 3 to 6 months of training, being taught that it is ok to break into a Home without probable cause or exigent circumstances.
3. Agents are trained to use subjective speculation and not objective factual reporting.
4. The Agents do not get psychological evaluations. A number of Agents who were abused as a child themselves see abuse in every home they go into, even if it's not there.
5. Most States do not require Agents to have a degree in Social Sciences. Any degree will do, doesn't even have to be related to the field.
6. The Agency has no checks and balances. A field Agent can lie to a judge or police officer with absolutely no proof and have it entered as factual evidence in a court of law!
7. Agents are trained to believe they are immune from the authority of the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment. They violate this in every investigation done nationwide.

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Colorado Childcare Assistance Program will not continue assistance to those seeking Higher Education. Only high school students and those seeking to become part of the workforce will be assisted.

By not continuing to assist with childcare for those seeking higher education more people will continue to be on government funding programs without every improving their lives. If childcare assistance is to continue helping those seeking a higher education, those receiving it will be able to get better jobs/careers, improved work will receive higher pay and give a hand up not a hand out. Why cut those out trying to do better for their family? Being able to get assistance in childcare while receiving a higher education will get people off assistance quicker allowing funding to open up for other government programs.

If there is no opportunity to get a better education, thus get a better job then someone may be on this program for its entirety. It is important to help those who are trying to help themselves by bettering themselves. If we are to break the cycle of poverty we must be willing to give one a path to do so.

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The government is currently reconsidering plans to scrap tax relief on childcare vouchers.

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UPDATE 9.11.2009 The university announced last week that the 2 nurseries will close in December, please keep signing the petition. We will not give up. We believe the nurseries should be given a chance to prove that they can run more cost-effectively.

August 2009: The University of Westminster is threatening to close down its 2 nurseries in Marylebone and Harrow, London in September, 2009 due to them not being cost-effective. The nurseries provide excellent childcare to children of staff, students and community parents. It is a wonderful nursery with dedicated staff and confident and happy children.

A university nursery is not a luxury but a necessity! Please help us fight this decision.

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The DCF Regional Schools across NJ are very beneficial to disabled, “at-risk” high school students (students who would regularly have to drop out or fail in the traditional public school setting because of legal troubles, parole, multiple explosions, etc…) and pregnant and parenting teens who want the best for their futures and the futures of their babies and don’t want to be another static and drop out.

The State of New Jersey wants to get rid of these programs to “save approx 4,000,000 dollars in the 09-10 year” but think of all the welfare costs that are going to skyrocket if the 500+ students who attend a DCF Regional School across NJ have to drop out because of lack of accommodations, childcare, and because they just can’t mesh with the normal high school setting. Most school districts do not provide any form of childcare for teen students who have infants and toddlers.

The Project TEACH (Teen Education and Child Health) educates teen mothers about proper care and nutrition for their children on top of letting them get their high school credits and finish high school months earlier than the traditional high school student.

Please help keep our schools open!

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Currently, Private Home Daycare laws only allow 5 children in addition to the providers own at any given time.

In the past, Kingston had a trial period where we were allowed to take up to 14 children and hire staff accordingly.

I think it's time for this trial to be re-introduced! With the changing times and the high demand for infant spaces, I feel we can quickly and effectively make a huge difference in the childcare field!

Please Note: Not every private home daycare would be ran like this, the current law would still exist. We would be introducing the option to operate a large family day home (with a permit) for those who are interested. (This would be monitored/licensed care, like a center) Each home would be assessed separately and according to it's size, etc. (This is currently being done in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and works quite well.)

My personal thoughts: I believe this would be a good way to accumulate additional infant spaces that this city needs desperately. I can't stress enough how much safer it would be to have two or more staff on site at all times!

PARENTS: If you would, please state "parent" under the comment part of the petition. Thank you for your support!

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Recently childcare providers increased fees. While annual fee increases inline with CPI inflation are expected, many childcare providers increased fees much higher.

Notably, ABC Learning Centres, Australia's largest childcare provider, increased fees by 11%. This represents an increase of approximately $6 per day per child raising the average daily cost to $62. The 11% fee increase is also approximately 3 times that of previous increases.

While the rhetoric from childcare providers rationalise these fee hikes according to wage increases, increased operating costs etc, the timing of the increases appears to represent blatant profiteering from the new childcare tax rebate announced in the Federal Budget. This rebate is aimed at improving childcare affordability for families and to ease the cost of living, NOT to increase the profits of childcare organisations (some of which are have been publicly documented as being financial trouble).

Childcare Fee Hikes - A protest and call for government approval of future increases

Childcare is a necessary service and the government needs to take steps to ensure its affordability. As such, this petition represents a protest against the current childcare fee increases and calls for the Federal Government to implement a system whereby major childcare providers will be required to submit request for increasing childcare fees to the Senate, or another government body, for approval.

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This is a petition to OBJECT to the PROPOSED CHILD CARE CENTRE Development Application 2008/DA-00182, 84 Villiers Avenue MORTDALE.

* Villiers Avenue is clearly a residential street with no commercial buidlings or businesses.

* The style of the proposed commercial building will be out of character with the entire streetscape and will detract from the residential atmosphere.

* A business such as a Childcare Centre will dramatically increase the road traffic and associated dangers of increased road traffic on this normally quiet street.

* There is already one (1) Childcare Centre operating in the adjoining street - MORTS ROAD as little as approx 100 Metres away from the proposed site.

* Childcare Centres are notorious for the amount of noise generated by 40 Children at play, especially in the outdoor play areas.

* There are a number of elderly or retired persons residing at premises surrounding the proposed site of whom will be directly affected by ongoing noise pollution which will be taken out of their control.

* The proposed site borders directly onto seven (7) separate dwellings. These seven dwellings will all be directly and severely affected by the noise. (the wider community ie. those living opposite the site will also be severely affected)

* These seven dwellings will all be severely disadvantaged by loss of property value ( nobody wants to live next to a childcare centre)

Considering Mortdale has so much other land already zoned for commercial use in areas that are historically commercial bothin design and appearance, it seems scandalous that a commercial venture could be proposed in an area that is purely residential. What makes this proposal even more insidious is that it will directly and severely affect the welfare and financial state of the seven families in the dwellings that directly border the proposed site.

YOU WOULD BE HARD-PRESSED TO FIND ANY OTHER SITE THAT WOULD HAVE SUCH AN ADVERSE AFFECT ON SO MANY PEOPLE.

IF YOU FEEL AS STRONGLY OPPOSED TO THIS DEVELOPMENT AS WE DO PLEASE SIGN THE ABOVE PETITION AND LODGE AN OBJECTION TO THE COUNCIL.

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In September 2006, the government of Quebec took a position re. the interpretation of the «Loi sur les services de garde éducatifs à l’enfance» that to their knowledge is incorrect so as to prevent parents from making a voluntary contribution to offer enriched extra-curricular programs, services and activities to their child.

The purpose of this petition is to provide Quebec citizens with the opportunity to :

Ask the Quebec government to respect the right of daycares to offer, and parents to request/purchase, optional enriched extra-curricular programs, services and activities.

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The community requirements for children’s services in the Shoalhaven area have now been met and will continue to support the needs of future community growth well into the future.

In the past five years there has been a proliferation of new services opening, as a result the majority of centres are now operating at 60% capacity.
Services cannot run and maintain quality programs when they have numerous vacancies.

If services are forced to reduce their operating capacity or shut down due to viability issues it also means our local families will have a reduced and limited choice in which service to attend and which best suits the needs of their children.

This ultimately means the smaller services may be forced to close due to lack of viability, local workers will lose jobs and our families and local economy will suffer.

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In recent studies it has been shown that although there are many childcare providers only a few offer non-standard hour childcare. Now the growing demand of a service-based economy have eaten-away the traditional 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday working week.

Large proportions of the labor force now have to be available beyond the old work pattern. New work patterns such as round the clock work, shift work, and extended hours are now found everywhere,in shops in hospitals, care homes, post offices, warehouses and factories, just to name a few.

In addition to changing working patterns, increasing parental employment and changes in cultural and social attitudes highlight the issues of work-life balance, bringing increasing demand for non-standard hours childcare provisions to the fore.

In addition to these changing working patterns parents are at the heart of this new workforce:61% of working families contain parents employed outside regular 9-5 hours (DFEE2000),managing shifts,and working during early mornings,evenings, nights, and weekends.A study by the Daycare Trust (2000) also suggests 34% of working families contain a parent who worked long hours, and 22% of working families contain a parent who worked shifts. So the need for non-standard hour childcare is great.

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Wellesley Village is a rapidly growing community in desperate need of a quality, licensed early learning and care facility.

The major obstacle to addressing this need is lack of funding for new licensed childcare spaces.

Some of the reasons for the funding shortage include: provinces are being asked to deliver childcare with 80% less funding according to statistics from the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada; and provisions for the previously announced tax incentives to businesses have not been included in the most recent federal budget.

According to Harold Albrecht in the May 26, 2007 Observer of Woolwich of Wellesley Townships, funding delays are “chalked up to bureaucracy”.

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To all full-time ECS families:

We are all aware of the unprecedented number of full-day and 3pm school closures this year, and we have individually and collectively tried to work with the administration to revise this year's ECS calendar and increase the days of full-time care provided. Unfortunately, the solutions offered by the administration thus far have been unacceptable. Several families have come together to write a letter to the JCC Board of Directors to present at their next meeting on Tuesday, November 28th. We believe that the Board is unaware of the changes, and we are asking for their support in pursuading the ECS administraton to provide childcare during non-holiday closures. We are also hoping that the Board will help ensure that such calendar issues are avoided in the future.

Please review the attached letter and indicate your support by signing via this online petition tool. It is critical that we (full-time families) present a unified voice to the administration and to the board. We are circulating the letter to nine full-time classrooms and anticipate strong support.

Thanks in advance for your support. And please feel free to contact any of the letter's authors with feedback or questions.

Shalom,
Liz Friedman, Lam Nguyen, Deborah Schneider, Rachel Schwartz, and Ilyse Wagner

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This e-petition is exclusively for parents of full-time ECS children at the SJCC.

It is a letter to the SJCC Board, to call their attention to the unacceptable number of ECS closures, and to ask for their help in addressing the issue.

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June 8, 2006

We, the undersigned, agree that the lack of childcare in the Dewey/Humboldt Arizona community is of great concern.

Families desiring to utilize childcare services must drive 25+ minutes to towns outside the community. In recognizing uprising gas prices, this places an unwelcome burden on many single parent families. Due to lack of commercial properties available, currently there are no options for placing a childcare facility in the Dewey/Humboldt town.

LadyBug Child Care Center would like to rezone 1851 E Prescott Dells Road, to a Residential Service Zone, which would allow for a small child care center to be placed in a residential home. This home is positioned in an area with little housing and many vacant lots. Only two surrounding homes are inhabited. The Zoning Commission has the ability to remove this critical burden by simply rezoning this property.

Not only would this offer childcare to the town of Dewey/Humboldt, but also the towns of Mayer and Cherry, which currently lack in childcare services as well. Please help us lift this burden to so many families.

Though this sounds like a relatively small request to support, many families are affected by this small petition. Your signatures and support are greatly appreciated.

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June 5, 2006

Closure of nursery.

The Step Ahead Day Nursery has served the needs of the College and local community for many years, with the highest standard of childcare.

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My name is Anne L. Halverson. I am a 21-yr-old mother of a one-year-old son, Aidan. I take motherhood very seriously and I take my employment seriously. In order to be employed and provide the best childcare environment for my son, I rely on a state funded child care subsidy. That means, based on my income, I pay a percentage of my son's child care expenses and the State of Minnesota subsidizes rest.

My son thrives at his day care center, Noah's Ark, in Hopkins, MN. He is cared for by well trained providers who, like me, want him to meet his growth milestones, be happy and well adjusted, understand about sharing, learn about tolerance, and be prepared for kindergarten. My son and I also rely on state subsidized health care. His pediatric clinic monitors his growth, advises me about his medical needs and has helped me become a confident parent. I know how fortunate we are to live in a state that values children by providing these opportunities.

Minnesota's governor, Tim Pawlenty, has proposed a budget that will slash child-care and health care subsidies for single mothers like me and our children. Without the aid of these subsidies, I will be forced to quit my job, surrender my opportunities to advance in the workforce, stay home full time with my child and apply for welfare benefits.

If you believe in and support mothers with young children who want their children in safe, regulated childcare centers; women who are proud to be part of Minnesota's workforce, please sign this petition.

I will present this petition when I speak before a Minnesota Senate Committee that is convening on Tuesday, February 22, at the Minnesota State Capital.

Thank You,
Anne L. Halverson

Please forward this to your friends and family. Thanks.

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This petition is in an effort to get the state of North Dakota to reverse it's decision to end childcare assistance for those who are going for a four year bachelor's degree.

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This is a danourous intersectin outside our childrens Child Care Centre.

People do dangerous U-turns from the far side into the Service station with no thought to giving way to the cars leaving Joyce Avenue.

There is an ever increasing number of acidents outside where our children are being cared for and we don't want another incident like at the Roundhouse Childcare Centre in Janurary

Please sign this petition to go to the Traffic Management Dept of Banyule Council.

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We are requesting to expand an in-home childcare to 10 children. We are currently State Licensed for 6 at this location.

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