On March 23, 2020, The Ministry of Education, who is responsible for licensed child care in the Province in partnership with Children’s Services, announced that they will work to support the provision of licensed child care in specific locations for health care and other frontline workers, free of charge to parents.
Children’s Services is developing a local plan to support the opening and oversight of the emergency licensed child care. The local plan will identify locations for the Ministry to review for exemption. The initial plan is due to the Province on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
Children’s Services is working with existing partners to assess the level of interest and capacity to provide emergency child care in Ottawa. In developing the local plan, Children’s Services will consider many factors (i.e. proximity to hospitals, Human Needs Task Force information, Ottawa Public Health’s capacity to support, etc.) to meet local needs and to identify licensed locations that require a Ministry approval/ exemption.
Children’s Services is also working with Ottawa Public Health to determine guidelines and recommendation for emergency care locations. Next steps will include developing a child care registry to ensure families can apply for emergency care and developing a prioritization criteria. In the interim, families are asked to email any questions to childrensservices@ottawa.ca.
