The State subsidy scheme for creches should be welcomed because it aims to help the disadvantaged most, argues childcare expert Geoffrey Shannon
Recent media reports on inspections of creches around the country have turned the spotlight on the childcare sector. The debate has been adult- rather than child-centred. We seem to forget that children are the primary consumers of childcare and they enjoy the right to be reared in a supportive community environment whether their parents work outside the home or not.
The 2006 Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) regulations, which came into force on September 3rd, 2007, build on the 1996 and 1997 Regulations to improve the quality of childcare in Ireland. The new regulations focus on children as the primary consumers of childcare and impose significant and crucial duties on service providers.
Each child's individual needs, interests and abilities must be facilitated within the daily life of the service. The value of play must also to be considered as a powerful learning vehicle for young children.
Further progress is, however, required. This is clear from the public debate that followed the publication of the findings of inspector reports from a large sample of creches.
We should not forget that the regulation of the childcare sector in Ireland is no more than a decade old and we have a long way to go before we catch up on the sophisticated systems that have evolved in other European countries where children have been cared for in creches for the last 50 years.
But as with any service for children, it is important that we set the highest standards of care and protection.
Future regulation of the childcare sector must address the setting down of minimum educational standards for working within the variety of childcare services.
In this regard, the development of a National Childcare Training Strategy by Brendan Smith, the Minister of State with special responsibility for children at the Department of Health and Children, is to be welcomed.
It is vital that we put in place an effective training programme for all staff involved in childcare so as to reassure parents that the childcare services provided are to an acceptable standard.
Another key battleground at the moment is the funding of community childcare facilities. There is now a keener awareness that expanding childcare provision is a way of ensuring that children from deprived backgrounds get the best start in life.
Recent research conducted by Oxford University revealed that two years of good early care can boost development by up to six months at the age of five. It is against this background that the new scheme for funding community childcare facilities was launched.
Community childcare services in disadvantaged communities have been supported since 2000 under a scheme funded through the EU co-funded Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP) which will end next month. The EOCP scheme is being replaced by a new and improved package of funding, the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme, which will operate until December 2010 and has a budget of €153 million.
The new scheme will target resources more effectively to disadvantaged parents and children.
To avail of the scheme, community not-for-profit childcare services, as well as complying with the quality requirements set down in the 2006 regulations, are required to operate an effective tiered fee system.
Services will be subvented to enable reduced fees to be charged to disadvantaged parents through a Community Childcare Subvention Grant.
The subsidies are aimed at parents who are in receipt of social welfare payments or who are engaged in education, training or work experience programmes where an underlying entitlement to a social welfare payment is established, and for working parents in receipt of Family Income Supplement.
This new scheme provides an effective framework for the targeting of resources at the most disadvantaged of parents and their children. I welcome it in that it is responsive to the degree of parental advantage and provides a consistent and transparent basis for assessing disadvantage.
There is a clear need for universal access to quality childcare. That must be our primary objective.
The new Community Childcare Subvention Scheme will not compromise on quality as one of the eligibility requirements for the scheme is that a service operates a child-centred approach and is fully compliant with the 2006 Child Care Regulations.
There seems to be a considerable amount of misinformation about the scheme. It is child-centred and has clear advantages over its predecessor. While its predecessor envisaged a tiered fee structure, this did not always happen.
The new scheme will ensure that public money is only funding disadvantaged groups.
The changes are being introduced over a 12-month transition period during which the Office of the Minister for Children will examine parent profile information returned by providers. This data will provide vital information and will enable adjustments to be made to remedy any inequities emerging from the data.
Brendan Smith is on record as saying that he will adjust the scheme "if it is proven to be unfair to low income parents above the social welfare threshold, who have children in not-for-profit childcare facilities".
The new Community Childcare Subvention Scheme may very well need to be adjusted to ensure that it does not cause hardship to those parents marginally above the social welfare threshold. Overall, however, it is a welcome initiative.
The intention behind the scheme is laudable, which is to ensure that the greatest number of children and parents from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from childcare.
The 16 per cent increase in the funding for the scheme being provided in 2008 is significant and deserves to be welcomed. In short, the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme has real potential to secure the best outcomes for both childcare services and for disadvantaged parents and their children.
Geoffrey Shannon is a solicitor and author of the seminal text Child Law. He is the keynote speaker at a childcare conference in Zurich next Thursday