New legislation to support safe, accessible, and high-quality child care

Oct 28, 2020 | 4:02 PM

EDMONTON, AB– Alberta’s government is proposing new legislation and regulation to reduce red tape and improve the accessibility of child care.

This new legislation will work toward accessibility for parents, simplify language and rules for operators, and increase quality and safety in child care programs in Alberta.

Minister of Children’s Services, Rebecca Schulz says this legislation will be a huge benefactor.

“We’ve worked with child care operators and educators to improve the standard care for children and create a more modern and flexible approach to child care programs. We want less paperwork for operators so they can spend more time supporting children.”

Minister Tracy Allard has lead this initiative by receiving feedback from parents and caregivers, early childhood educators, child care operators, and directors, and licensing staff, into legislation and regulations.

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“I was pleased to lead the engagement on the Child Care Licensing Act and Regulation review. During the consultation, I heard repeatedly that Alberta’s child care legislation needs to be flexible and adaptive to meet the challenges of our current time.

I’m confident the proposed changes will ensure the well-being, safety, and development of children.”

If passed, the proposed the Early Learning and Child Care Act will make key changes that will:

Improve transparency for parents
Implement risk-based licensing so that licensing teams can focus more time on programs needing support
Encourage digital record-keeping.
Replace previous accreditation standards with new guiding principles in legislation, including quality, safety, well-being, inclusion, and child development.
Simplify and clarify language and rules for operators
Allow 24 hour/overnight child care.
Provide updated resources for parents and operators.

For more information, Listen to the news conference.

by Connor Gunn

New legislation to support safe, accessible, and high-quality child care

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