Lambton County looks at adding child care space at long-term care home

Lambton County council is looking at building a second child-care facility at Lambton Meadowview Villa, a long-term care home near Petrolia.

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The county-owned long-term care home already has a child-care facility created when the current home was built three decades ago.

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County council agreed Wednesday to use provincial funding to hire an architect to look at the feasibility of creating a second child care facility for up to 90 children at the same time an already planned new facility for residents living with dementia is constructed at the site.

Lambton is working to add 573 new child care spaces for kids five and younger by 2026 as part of agreement between Ontario and the federal governments.

“To date, we’ve approved 250 new spaces,” said Melissa Fitzpatrick, the county’s manager of children’s services. “We are making significant progress.”

She said they have looked at which neighborhoods need additional child care and Petrolia and Enniskillen Township, where Meadowview Villa is located, have a waiting list of more than 300.

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The existing child care facility at the Meadowview Villa is situated where it wouldn’t be convenient to expand, she said.

With work already underway to develop the facility for residents living with dementia at the county home, county officials thought “this might be a good opportunity for us piggyback off that project,” Fitzpatrick said.

If the child care project moves ahead, it would be built with funding from the federal and provincial governments, as well as the county’s children’s services reserve and a loan. It’s expected the facility would cost less since the county already owns the land, Fitzpatrick said.

The facility would be owned by the county and leased to a non-profit child care operator.

Fitzpatrick said if the county were able to offer new space at a reasonable cost, she believed operators would be willing to get involved.

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“They’re very eager, they’re very willing to expand,” Fitzpatrick said. “The biggest barrier is lack of capital.”

Once the feasibility study is completed, it will go to county council along with a recommendation from staff on whether or not to go ahead with the new child care facility.

Wednesday, county council also endorsed a new child care and early years plan through 2028.

The county is designated by the province to manage child care and early years services locally.

After engaging with community groups, the new plan was developed by a consultant with key priorities that include creating a dependent, inclusive, accessible system, as well as supporting child care workforce recruitment and retention.

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