Norfolk County councilors last week voted in favor of a temporary 18-month contract with Today’s Family to provide licensed home childcare.
“I’m very happy to hear that there will be stability,” Coun. Kim Huffman, (Ward 7) said prior to the unanimous vote. “As we heard not that long ago, we have a deficit of licensed home care spaces and I do understand that COVID made it really difficult for people to operate a home-based business.”
Today’s Family is an existing licensed home child-care agency and the new contract takes effect at the end of April when the existing contract expires.
Councilors were told that county staff would typically embark on a competitive bidding process before entering into a new home child-care agreement.
However, the provincial government is working on a new child-care funding formula which is due to be implemented in 2024. That, county councilors were told, makes it difficult to move forward with a competitive bidding process at this time.
A new temporary agreement with Today’s Family will give county staff the time they need to assess the financial impact of the new cost-based funding formula being developed by the province.
At the same time, there is a severe shortage of licensed home child-care spaces in both Norfolk and Haldimand.
County staff say the number of licensed home child-care operators dropped to 10 from 23 prior to the pandemic.
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