Parents ponder where to turn for child care after daycares destroyed in wildfires

Parents are struggling to find child care after two daycare centreswere lost in the wildfire near Halifax.

ForestKids Early Learning, also known asHammonds Plains Children's Centre, and Giant Steps on Wyndham Drive in Upper Tantallon have both been destroyed.Anumber of other centres had to be evacuated.

Four-year-old Charlie Coffin is one of the 82 children who used to attendForestKids. Her familyalso had to leavetheir home due to evacuation orders.

Halifax-area parents struggling to find childcare after 2 daycares burned in wildfire

1 year ago

Duration 2:06

ForestKids Early Learning and Giant Steps have both been destroyed and a number of other centres had to be evacuated. Parents say with the existing shortages in child-care spots already, they're wondering where they will be able to send their kids.

Her mother, Stephanie Coffin, has been finding comfort by meeting up with other affected families at a park in Bedford.

"I definitely cried, like right away," Coffin said, "It was just so devastating because I know they love that space. It just completely breaks my heart."

Without a place for Charlie during the day, Coffin and her husband can't always go to work, but she said their workplaces have been understanding.

Finding a daycare for Charlie during the pandemic was already a struggle, Coffin said, because ofthe province's shortage of child-care centres. She said they were fortunate to get in because ForestKids was their first pick.

"The daycare meant a lot," she said. "It's not a normal daycare. It's not just somewhere that you drop your kid off. This is a community. They get to go outside, they get to explore and they get to be kids."

Charlie misses her friends, the daycare employees, and the dogs andbaby chicks, which were also evacuated.

"But she knows that it's not the end, that they're going to build it back. There are still going to be daycares to go to," Coffin said. "We still have each other and those are the really important things."

Daphne Sleigh is another parent who visitedthe park. She saidher 11-year-old child, Jordan, has been going to ForestKids since the age ofthree andnow attends the after-school care program.

"They're pretty torn up about this. When we told them that ForestKids had burned, there was a little shock and disbelief and then a lot of tears, obviously."

The daycare is the family's community and extended family, Sleigh said. She said Jordan is on edge about the uncertainty of the situation.

"It's so hard to not be able to tell them what's happening next," she said. "We don't know when this is going to be over. We don't know how long it's going to take to rebuild."

Claire Screen moved from Scotland two years ago to work at ForestKids as an early childhood educator. She misses the children and her colleagues.

"It's absolutely devastating," she said. "We spend all day Monday to Friday with these children and they are like part of our family. We're all part of the ForestKids family."

Screen is on an employer-specific work permit, she said, which further complicates things.

"I can't go and seek out employment for any other employer right now. So until we know a little bit more about what's going to happen, it's a stressful situation," Screen said.

But she is moreconcerned for the families.

"Hopefully, we'll get somewhere else as soon as possible and we'll be able to start providing the care for these children that they deserve."

At a news conference on Thursday, Becky Druhan, the minister of education and early childhood development inNova Scotia, said the province will pay the centres in lieu of daily child-care fees.

She said the province is also working with the centres to potentially setup temporary facilities, if necessary.

"We also have provisions for expediting that in emergency circumstances to get centres up and running very quickly," she said.

Druhan saidmanyparents are reaching out to centres to offer their help despitelosing their homes and child care.