Letter C. Duncan, Revelstoke Child Care Society

October 23, 2009
Honorable Mary Polak
PO Box 9057 Stn. Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Dear Minister Polak;
On behalf of the Revelstoke Child Care Society, I am writing to request that the government of British Columbia reconsider the decision made to eliminate the Provincial Offices of the Infant Development Program, Aboriginal Infant Development Program and Supported Child Development Program.
The Provincial Offices of IDP, SCDP and ASCDP provides leadership, training, advocacy, a common vision, consistency of the local programs and equal access for families regardless of where they live within our province.
As a small rural community, we acknowledge that our local Infant Development Program and Supported Child Development program have maintained their core funding. Regardless, our local ICP and SCDP rely on the expertise of the Provincial Office for mentoring, training, family connections and research.
Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society, the host agency for the Supported Child
Development and the Infant Development Program, have stated “Our Consultants regularly upgrade their skills through Provincial and Regional In-service opportunities, Summer Institute programs, the Early Years Conference, Provincial Partnership Projects and the UBC Certificate and Diploma program in Infant Development. All of these training events are sponsored and/or
co-coordinated through the Provincial Advisor’s Office with the Regional Advisors providing ongoing training and support”.
The Child Care Society is non profit and operates 4 inclusive child care facilities with a total of 97 Licensed spaces, including Infant and Toddler, Group 30 months to 5 years, School Aged care and Preschool. Our concern is that with the elimination of the Provincial and Regional supports to SCDP and IDP, the consultants will not receive the training, education and in service required to offer quality support to the children in our child care centers.
Thank you, in advance, for your attention to this important provincial service.
Respectfully yours,
Carolyn Duncan
Chairperson
Revelstoke Child Care Society