c) Children Services Recap/Overview

Children’s Services: Operating Overview

Child Care Centres 2020 Review and 2021 Outlook

Similar to the other Departments, COVID-19 provided some interesting challenges for the Municipality’s child care services in 2020. The year began with the North Perth – Spinrite Child & Family Centre operating at a near 100% utilization rate. On March 17th, the child care services were forced to close due to the pandemic.

On April 27, 2020, working the City of Stratford Social Services Department, Staff implemented an Emergency Child Care Centre for Essential Workers. This program was 100% funded by the Provincial Government.

In June, child care services commenced reopening under the guidance of the Province of Ontario. By September 1st , child care services returned to maximum capacity with provincial guidelines in place. Again, the Province has provided funds to compensate for financial losses during the pandemic.

Thought out the summer, Staff were hired and the two new child care centres were licenced to operate. The Monkton Child Care Centre opened on September 28th and at the St Marys Centre opened on October 5th, 2020.

Despite the annual child care fee increases, the North Perth Programs have been unable to generate the funds to balance the budgets. These programs are reliant on the Ministry of Education Consolidated Service Manager (City of Stratford as our CMSM) for stabilization funding to offset the outstanding costs. Based on past years, we anticipate additional stabilization funding being available for all Children Services Programs in North Perth.

North Perth – EarlyON Program

In 2020, the North Perth EarlyON program started out strong with a lot of plans for early learning in the community. Again, by March all programs ceased. With the assistance of the City of Stratford Children Services Staff, the EarlyON Staff member was able to provide virtual learning experiences for children and their parents/guardians.

In 2021, the Municipality will replace the vacancy in this Department and hopefully resume the programs and learning opportunities for parents as we have been accustomed to in North Perth.

Respectfully Submitted,

Patricia Berfelz Clerk