I don’t know what else to do beside write the newspaper.
I am a single mom, student and employee and my son attends St. Patrick’s Catholic School.
I have sought morning and after-school care with the Red Deer Childcare Society for the last two years and am tired of paying more than my fair share in child care costs.
The program he attends is a joint program between St. Pat’s and G.H. Dawe.
St. Pat’s is a year-round school program and therefore has breaks every 12 weeks. Yet my monthly fees do not fluctuate. G.H. Dawe is a regular school program and has “normal” breaks. An example would be fall break for St. Pats (Oct. 4 to 16), for which I paid my regular monthly fees for October ($410) but because the society does not provide an option for full-day care during this time, I also paid an additional $45 per day for care elsewhere.
G.H. Dawe parents pay the exact same fees per month, which seems to me as unfair.
This is going to happen again in January because my son does not return to school until Jan. 16 (two extra weeks of child care from a different provider) and then again in April.
I have to work just to pay my child-care fees!
I would be a little more accepting of them not providing care on these days if I paid for half the month, but have simply been told that it is what it is.
So what options am I left with? Seek alternate services for care in the morning (7 a.m.) and after school? Well I tried that last year for morning care and had very unreliable people in the morning making me miss classes. This is not feasible!
I think Red Deer Childcare Society should be accountable and provide better options for the St. Patrick’s parents who use their services!
Brandy Newman
Red Deer