The city is looking at making changes to how their business licence bylaws recognize family day homes in Grande Prairie. There are about 75 day homes in the city that are accredited and monitored by local agencies, but are not covered under city business licences. Gladys James with the Stepping Stones Day Home Program says she was recently approached by a bylaw enforcement officer about the issue.
James says she would like to see the regulations for accredited day homes follow suit with the stringent provincial rules they already adhere to.
“They get the RCMP [Criminal Record] Check done, their first aid, and their intervention record check, they do that every three years already. That would make sense to me, they are already doing it. I don’t argue that there should be a city business licence, that’s no problem but to do it yearly when they are already being mandated and monitored just seems like overkill.”
James also says it would be unfair for accredited day homes to be lumped together with other private family day homes when it comes to business licence regulations.
“Our providers are regulated, they do go above and beyond. I’m not disrespecting private carers, I have no doubt that there are outstanding ladies who run private child care, it’s the ones who don’t. But we are all lumped together so that’s why we wanted to stand up for our providers.”
The Stepping Stones Day Home Program is one of three agencies in Grande Prairie that James says monitors and holds the 75 local accredited day homes to the highest possible standard.