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An official this week admitted communication with parents whose children have been involved in summertime and after-school child care programs run by the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) could have been better, but — in response to a parent’s complaints — said the program’s instructors are delivering the standard of care that we are licenced to provide.
Paul Edgington, SLRD administrator, offered his comments on Monday (Nov. 3) regarding the summertime “Camp Little People” program and the after-school “Mother Bear” program in response to a letter to The Question from Pemberton mother Tari Minitti, who offered a wide range of criticisms of the two programs.
Minitti, whose children have attended both programs, described the Mother Bear program as “nothing but a glorified babysitting service,” adding that staff several times “have shown… a physical presentation of unhappiness, looking like they do not want to be there with the children.”
She also contended that attendance at the Mother Bear after-school program, which takes place at the Pemberton Community Centre, has been falling because many children didn’t want to attend, especially since one particular “favourite” worker left the program.
“It has not been very comforting for parents… in feeling that the children are in the care of adults who have not been able to effectively assist and guide the children in problem solving,” Minitti wrote.
In terms of the program’s organization, “There have been several occasions where parents have received no follow-up to issues, concerns, etc.,” Minitti wrote.
Edgington, who as SLRD administrator is ultimately in charge of the program, said officials have been working to improve communication as one aspect of their response to parents’ concerns.
In a statement, he said that while some local parents might wish to see a higher level of care offered, the Mother Bear program meets the standard of care for which it is mandated.
“The provincial standards for the program we offer are different from child-minding programs which offer a higher level of care,” Edgington wrote. “That is not to say our programming is substandard; rather, we are offering a basic, simpler level of care. The various levels of child minding and day care are simply different in nature and as a result, have different licensing requirements.”
Edgington said that in some cases, the level of care offered by the SLRD programs may not be appropriate for all children. He said elected officials will be asked “for a decision on whether to provide care of this nature in the future.”
Minitti contended that when parents wrote letters of concern to SLRD officials, the committee in charge of the programs discussed the issues behind closed doors but that “our voices were not given a chance to be heard at this meeting.”
“We were given a one-on-one sit-down meeting with SLRD administrators to identify the problems, and our expectations, but no changes or action was taken on any of the matters,” she wrote.
The problems, she said, started during the summertime Camp Little People program. That’s when, according to Minitti, twice the children were taken outdoors — once to pick up garbage, once to One Mile Lake — without parental consent. In one instance, she wrote, two girls taking part in the program went missing, prompting an RCMP search that located the girls near Signal Hill School.
Wrote Edgington, “Certain specific instances which gave rise to complaints during our summer program were dealt with promptly and appropriately. One area which could have been improved at that time was communicating our actions to parents. Steps have been taken to address this, including distribution of a monthly newsletter to parents.
“The SLRD is committed to providing a safe environment for the children in our care and we believe we do this. We are committed to providing more timely communication and feedback to parents on issues as they arise and will continually look for ways to improve our service.”
