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Little Wings Daycare is one of two Richmond child care sites benefitting from the addition of $10-a-day spaces.

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More $10-a-day child care spaces coming to Richmond

By Richmond Sentinel

Published 2:53 PDT, Tue November 1, 2022

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Richmond families will benefit from the addition of 89 new $10-a-day child care spaces.

“For too long, families have had to make sacrifices in order to ensure their children have adequate care,” says Richmond–Steveston MLA Kelly Greene. “By making child care more accessible and affordable, more parents will be able to pursue their education and their careers knowing their child is thriving.”

Forty of the spaces will be at Little Friends Childcare Centre (age 2.5 years to kindergarten) and 49 will be at Little Wings Daycare (24 infant-toddler spaces, 25 spaces for those aged 2.5 years to kindergarten).

"Little Wings Daycare is a small, non-profit centre, with a close-knit community and many dedicated parent volunteers. We are so very excited to be joining the $10-a-day child care program and continuing to provide quality care, now with better affordability for our families,” says Alana Robson, president of the Little Wings board of directors.

Spaces in the $10-a-day program reduce the average cost of child care from $1,000 a month at participating facilities (for full-time, centre-based infant care) to $200 a month, saving families approximately $800 a month per child on average.

"Families need child care for a multitude of reasons—it's good for children, parents, and the economy,” says

Beth Williams, a parent of two children attending Little Wings Daycare. “As a parent of two, both of whom have benefitted from the high quality of care and enrichment at Little Wings, this kind of governmental investment in reducing barriers to access for families who need or choose child care is the right step to be taking. It's an investment in our future and I am thrilled that this valuable industry and talented educators who enable it are being supported in this way. Our centre has been crucial in the health and happiness of my family and it's exciting to move forward in making that even more accessible."

The newly approved $10-a-day spaces are being offered at 18 child care centres throughout British Columbia and include 304 spaces for infants and toddlers, 552 spaces for children 2.5 years old to kindergarten age, 385 spaces for school-aged children, and 132 preschool spaces. These additional spaces bring the total number of $10-a-day spaces in B.C. to 8,190.

"We doubled the number of $10-a-day spaces earlier this year and will be nearly doubling yet again by the end of 2022, with 1,373 spaces added this month alone," said Katrina Chen, B.C.'s Minister of State for Child Care. "Affordable child care can be life changing, and we're one step closer to making that a reality for all families in B.C."

In addition to these spaces, the province, with federal funding support, is helping parents with the cost of child care at centres that are not part of the $10-a-day program through child care fee reductions of up to $550 more per month per child. These savings, which kick in on Dec. 1, are in addition to the $350 per month per child that families have been saving through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative since 2018, and approximately 69,000 families will benefit.

For more information on the $10-a-day ChildCareBC sites and spaces, visit gov.bc.ca/childcare10aDaysites.