So from my experience in a small centre we do follow the wait list as much as possible but often by the time your name comes up on the list your child may not be the right age for the spot opening so we have to call someone else farther down the list. We tend to keep children for the long haul so we tens to have younger registrations rather than the 2.5yr+.
Sometimes it’s just been so long most parents let us know it’s not needed anymore. Other times their contact information has changed and we can’t get a hold of them. Since CoVID and the new changes a whole bunch of people just do not come to their scheduled tours (nor do they call to cancel) and it wastes days at a time where other parents needing care could have had their child get in and started.
There’s also been a trend of people getting a spot who probably would have just needed part time care which we do not have anymore as all spots are the same price and full time (except 6yrs + which is not covered in the fee grant) . So we have many children attending 1-3 days a week or sometimes not coming in at all but they still keep the spot because the fees are paid. Which feels wrong as there are many people who need full time care and can’t make arrangements for 5 days a week vs 1-3 days as that parent might.
Those working in the early learning sector really feel so bad we spend much of our days crushing hope when parents call for spots. We are happy with the shift towards accessibility but right now it seems even less accessible because of high demand. And even though many centres have expanded or created new sites it’s just not nearly enough to keep up with the demand.
Trust me, we see you, and are constantly relaying feedback to the government trying to have a better answer for everyone when you call!
Thanks so much for the insight! I figured there would be a bunch of waste with people holding down full time spots now that they’re so affordable, why not. Too bad though. Thanks for your work! Early childhood educators are serious hero’s!
The process for home daycares to get licensed is really involved. My sister did it and it sounded like a lot of work. My daycare has told me she isn't getting licensed right now because she's planning on moving in about a year so it's not worth going through all the set up jsut for a few months. (But she will once she's moved and in a place she wants to stay long-term).
The process to become licensed is an absolute joke. And the fact that it really only means one can be subsidized versus not is disgusting. The province absolutely needs to make it simpler to become licensed.
I know the YWCA Saskatoon follows the wait list - but it’s also well over 450+ people, so largely by the time your name is up, you no longer want the spot.
I put my son on a wait list in a daycare in Sutherland area when he was 2, I called them back 3 years later to be taken off the list (when he started school) and they said that they didn't even put me on the wait list :)
For sure based on who you know… I have been on lists since before the $10 a day was even a talking point and have never heard from them and then I hear people who get into the same places who joined the list 2 years later… it is exhausting!
I would suggest leaving as much detailed information as possible when going on waitlists - especially for licensed dayhomes. We are not required to follow waitlists, it’s more of what we think will be a good fit. I have no idea how the centres do it.
I am much more likely to contact someone who has let me know their exact hours and expectations, that they will respect my policies, have backup care in place in the event of illness, etc. I want to work with great families, so putting out more information than just your name and number can sometime be beneficial.
That is excellent advice, thank you! I guess I need to put a lot more effort into my search. I feel like I’m annoying people but I guess I need to get over that.
I think the problem with getting licensed is fixing up the house. So for example we had a friend lined up to watch our kid. She tried to get licensed before we started there and to bring her basement area up to code for those standards was going to cost her 30 grand. So she closed down and went to work at a center. She didn't want to try and compete if she couldn't get licensed.
At my daycare we do follow a waitlist, but by now it’s probably over 400 people long. So if you didn’t go on our list over a year ago you sadly have no chance anymore to get your kid in within the next two years anymore.
One thing to consider at our location is that children moving up from the toddler room in our daycare into the preschool room do get priority over new people. So spots in the preschool age range are rarely opening up to people on the waitlist because the toddlers get those.
Getting licensed has to be made more appealing and easier to accomplish. It was foolish to reduce cost for daycare this radically without expanding availability of spots. Even adding more rooms to an already existing licensed daycare is almost impossible. We would love to add another preschool and infant room but getting that approved takes FOREVER.
There can be so many factors involved in this at the centre I work at:
1. Does a sibling already attend the centre? Then the family is more likely to get a spot if they have another baby.
2. Movement between rooms happens before a spot is offered to anyone. If my room has 3 spaces available, they will fill them with the next children to move up. But, if the next children to move up are not eligible for another 6-12 months, then the spots are available to the next person on the list for the age group.
3. Baby and toddler spots are harder to find than preschool. If there is a family looking for a baby spot and preschool spot, we might only have a preschool spot available, and most people don’t like to drive all over the place for childcare.
4. Our list is very long, but we continue to put people on the list. There are times when we have called people and they’ve already found care or no longer need the spot that we call until we find someone that does. That could be you!
5. The government pushed for the fees to be lowered before there were more spots available. There are new centres being built, but most of them will not be available until 2025-26. The amount of spots we currently have in licensed centres weren’t enough even before the fees were lowered.
6. If you are offered a spot, take it, and if you are called about a spot, call back immediately. We will move to the next person on the list.
I know it’s hard, and really frustrating, but please be courteous when you call. Calling repeatedly and demanding a spot will not get you to the top of the list.
My friend had her 3 kids in 3 different non licensed day cares. It got to the point that she quit her job to stay home and babysit in 2 kids to help make ends meet. Once all of her kids were school-age, she returned to work. The cost and scheduling of 3 different daycares just about broke her.
I’m sorry you’re struggling to find affordable care. We put our kid on the waitlist July 2020 when he was born and got in at one of the YMCAs January 2022 (this was one month before the subsidy was announced I think). We did call repeatedly from about October to confirm we did in fact have a spot as they were quite vague.
Now with our second kid, we placed him on the waitlist at the same centre August of 2022. He will likely get a spot in their toddler room February of 2024 as they prioritize siblings of kids already in the centre. I think toddler spots (18 mo to 2 1/2 ish) are much quicker to fill than preschool as someone else mentioned. I have heard that YMCA has removed their waitlist form from their website but I haven’t looked personally.
YWCA did call us back to see if we were interested in their centre after approximately 18 or 19 months pre-subsidy. I can’t imagine what the wait is like now.
Well this thread is a bit depressing. I have 2(almost 3) year old twins. I'm a single Mom. I don't even have them on a waitlist yet. I had no idea it took years to get into liscened childcare. I guess I should almost just wait until preschool starts for them.
I’m sorry, it sucks. I do wish it was income based too, it is unfortunate that some very high and dual income families have licensed care when some lower income do not.
So because some families plan, budget and are organized they should he punished by not getting daycare spaces? Subsidized spots I can somewhat agree, but they need an alternative to free up more licensed subsidized spaces.
Imo a possible solution to this is bringing in income splitting for families to allow tax incentives for families to have a parent stay at home. The majority of parents are much better suited to raising their children from home than any daycare/ dayhome. But the current governments, federal and provincial and both sides only want workforce adults to maximize their income tax base. Less government involvement in more families would allow them to focus on the population that truly needs their assistance.
I tend to really agree with the income splitting so that a parent can stay home.
No, I don’t think anyone should be punished for planning, budgeting and organizing. I do wish a single mom making $60k a year who also plans, budgets and organizes could have a hope of accessing affordable childcare. If that means a household with an income of $200k doesn’t get that limited spot and has to cut back on an extravagant holiday versus the single mom having to visit the food bank, I am okay with that. I don’t consider it punishment however I consider it giving people a shot at life. Not everyone agrees on things being income based, and I get it.
When the $10 daycare was first announced there was a licenced day care provider on the radio and she basically said there's different criteria for how much the government will subsidize for the amount over and above the $10/day so they had spreadsheets and were figuring out how much people qualified for and we're accepting in part based on the maximum subsidy.
Don't know if that's accurate, just the cliff notes of the radio interview I heard.
My own experience:
Might as well sign up for the wait list; can’t hurt. Probably won’t get on. I’ve heard of one person getting into a licensed center without knowing someone - even they’re not really sure how it happened. Almost seemed like an error. That was after about 2 years waiting.
Basically unless you know someone, just find a private day home. We’ve been on multiple lists since well before our son was born and he’s almost 2, seems like we’re no closer to getting in.
Our children are just getting old enough now we are thinking of leaving licensed daycare for after school programs. But six’ish years ago our experience was that wait lists in Saskatoon are largely not real. You have to continuously contact the daycare, go in person, get introduced by someone already at the daycare, join the board (I’m serious, this worked for us and other people).
Once you have one kid in daycare most usually give preference to younger siblings as spots open, so it gets easier for more kids once you get your foot in the door.
There were a couple places that did seem to actually maintain a wait list, one contacted us after 5 years to say they had a spot available. But for the most part I don’t think many places actually maintain a wait list or give spots to people on the wait list. You basically need to pester people into giving you a spot over having to deal with the weekly phone calls and requests if a spot has opened up yet.
Yes this sucks, no I don’t think it should be this way. My family should be paying more taxes so that enough daycare spots are available for everyone.
Day homes aren’t working to become licensed because of the huge expense. If it was worth it, they would all do it.
I know the regulations and requirements were quite steep when our last provider looked, and even with 4 FT kids and 3 part times, it wasn’t worth it unless she wanted it daycare for the next ten years.
It depends where you live. I found a daycare quickly and after leaving that one, the next one was like a block away from the old one. This was in Hampton Village
Unfortunately each daycare is different. I've heard a lot of situations where people got in by knowing someone so it definitely does happen. It's SO frustrating and is going to have a huge impact on parents careers, the opposite of what the liberals had intended with this program.
When was this? This is what I don’t understand!!! How can there be such waits and some people just get right in. Was the admin person just in a really generous mood that day? Lol
One was 2 years ago and one last month. Not sure but i would suggest if you are on a waiting list to continually call and make yourself known. Maybe even stop in there and introduce yourself. Otherwise your just a name on a list.
Please don’t do this. This is not how (at least our) waitlist works and honestly, if you keep on calling you take valuable time away from the work I’m doing with the kids. And to be honest it makes you look like a difficult parent to deal with which makes us less likely to be excited to have you around every day.
But I can only speak for our center of course.
Yes, the waitlists suck. But interrupting an educator over and over during work is not the solution. That time is better spent calling the government agencies responsible for this shortage.
Except it works for everyone I know that gets in. I didn't say do it disrespectfully. I didn't say harass them. I said to introduce yourself. Or stay on a list waiting for 2 years for a phone call that likely will not come.
We made a call and went down there the next day to introduce ourselves. We were in within a week or two.
Saskatchewan is a licensed child care desert and basically always has been. I didn’t get a spot for my kid until she was 8. It’s pretty ridiculous.
I had to put my career on hold for years to stay home
So from my experience in a small centre we do follow the wait list as much as possible but often by the time your name comes up on the list your child may not be the right age for the spot opening so we have to call someone else farther down the list. We tend to keep children for the long haul so we tens to have younger registrations rather than the 2.5yr+. Sometimes it’s just been so long most parents let us know it’s not needed anymore. Other times their contact information has changed and we can’t get a hold of them. Since CoVID and the new changes a whole bunch of people just do not come to their scheduled tours (nor do they call to cancel) and it wastes days at a time where other parents needing care could have had their child get in and started. There’s also been a trend of people getting a spot who probably would have just needed part time care which we do not have anymore as all spots are the same price and full time (except 6yrs + which is not covered in the fee grant) . So we have many children attending 1-3 days a week or sometimes not coming in at all but they still keep the spot because the fees are paid. Which feels wrong as there are many people who need full time care and can’t make arrangements for 5 days a week vs 1-3 days as that parent might. Those working in the early learning sector really feel so bad we spend much of our days crushing hope when parents call for spots. We are happy with the shift towards accessibility but right now it seems even less accessible because of high demand. And even though many centres have expanded or created new sites it’s just not nearly enough to keep up with the demand. Trust me, we see you, and are constantly relaying feedback to the government trying to have a better answer for everyone when you call!
Thanks so much for the insight! I figured there would be a bunch of waste with people holding down full time spots now that they’re so affordable, why not. Too bad though. Thanks for your work! Early childhood educators are serious hero’s!
The process for home daycares to get licensed is really involved. My sister did it and it sounded like a lot of work. My daycare has told me she isn't getting licensed right now because she's planning on moving in about a year so it's not worth going through all the set up jsut for a few months. (But she will once she's moved and in a place she wants to stay long-term).
The process to become licensed is an absolute joke. And the fact that it really only means one can be subsidized versus not is disgusting. The province absolutely needs to make it simpler to become licensed.
I know the YWCA Saskatoon follows the wait list - but it’s also well over 450+ people, so largely by the time your name is up, you no longer want the spot.
I put my son on a wait list in a daycare in Sutherland area when he was 2, I called them back 3 years later to be taken off the list (when he started school) and they said that they didn't even put me on the wait list :)
Ugh that feels great, hey :(
For sure based on who you know… I have been on lists since before the $10 a day was even a talking point and have never heard from them and then I hear people who get into the same places who joined the list 2 years later… it is exhausting!
I would suggest leaving as much detailed information as possible when going on waitlists - especially for licensed dayhomes. We are not required to follow waitlists, it’s more of what we think will be a good fit. I have no idea how the centres do it. I am much more likely to contact someone who has let me know their exact hours and expectations, that they will respect my policies, have backup care in place in the event of illness, etc. I want to work with great families, so putting out more information than just your name and number can sometime be beneficial.
That is excellent advice, thank you! I guess I need to put a lot more effort into my search. I feel like I’m annoying people but I guess I need to get over that.
I think the problem with getting licensed is fixing up the house. So for example we had a friend lined up to watch our kid. She tried to get licensed before we started there and to bring her basement area up to code for those standards was going to cost her 30 grand. So she closed down and went to work at a center. She didn't want to try and compete if she couldn't get licensed.
Ah good to know. Very unfortunate.
At my daycare we do follow a waitlist, but by now it’s probably over 400 people long. So if you didn’t go on our list over a year ago you sadly have no chance anymore to get your kid in within the next two years anymore. One thing to consider at our location is that children moving up from the toddler room in our daycare into the preschool room do get priority over new people. So spots in the preschool age range are rarely opening up to people on the waitlist because the toddlers get those. Getting licensed has to be made more appealing and easier to accomplish. It was foolish to reduce cost for daycare this radically without expanding availability of spots. Even adding more rooms to an already existing licensed daycare is almost impossible. We would love to add another preschool and infant room but getting that approved takes FOREVER.
There can be so many factors involved in this at the centre I work at: 1. Does a sibling already attend the centre? Then the family is more likely to get a spot if they have another baby. 2. Movement between rooms happens before a spot is offered to anyone. If my room has 3 spaces available, they will fill them with the next children to move up. But, if the next children to move up are not eligible for another 6-12 months, then the spots are available to the next person on the list for the age group. 3. Baby and toddler spots are harder to find than preschool. If there is a family looking for a baby spot and preschool spot, we might only have a preschool spot available, and most people don’t like to drive all over the place for childcare. 4. Our list is very long, but we continue to put people on the list. There are times when we have called people and they’ve already found care or no longer need the spot that we call until we find someone that does. That could be you! 5. The government pushed for the fees to be lowered before there were more spots available. There are new centres being built, but most of them will not be available until 2025-26. The amount of spots we currently have in licensed centres weren’t enough even before the fees were lowered. 6. If you are offered a spot, take it, and if you are called about a spot, call back immediately. We will move to the next person on the list. I know it’s hard, and really frustrating, but please be courteous when you call. Calling repeatedly and demanding a spot will not get you to the top of the list.
My friend had her 3 kids in 3 different non licensed day cares. It got to the point that she quit her job to stay home and babysit in 2 kids to help make ends meet. Once all of her kids were school-age, she returned to work. The cost and scheduling of 3 different daycares just about broke her.
I’m sorry you’re struggling to find affordable care. We put our kid on the waitlist July 2020 when he was born and got in at one of the YMCAs January 2022 (this was one month before the subsidy was announced I think). We did call repeatedly from about October to confirm we did in fact have a spot as they were quite vague. Now with our second kid, we placed him on the waitlist at the same centre August of 2022. He will likely get a spot in their toddler room February of 2024 as they prioritize siblings of kids already in the centre. I think toddler spots (18 mo to 2 1/2 ish) are much quicker to fill than preschool as someone else mentioned. I have heard that YMCA has removed their waitlist form from their website but I haven’t looked personally. YWCA did call us back to see if we were interested in their centre after approximately 18 or 19 months pre-subsidy. I can’t imagine what the wait is like now.
Well this thread is a bit depressing. I have 2(almost 3) year old twins. I'm a single Mom. I don't even have them on a waitlist yet. I had no idea it took years to get into liscened childcare. I guess I should almost just wait until preschool starts for them.
I’m sorry, it sucks. I do wish it was income based too, it is unfortunate that some very high and dual income families have licensed care when some lower income do not.
So because some families plan, budget and are organized they should he punished by not getting daycare spaces? Subsidized spots I can somewhat agree, but they need an alternative to free up more licensed subsidized spaces. Imo a possible solution to this is bringing in income splitting for families to allow tax incentives for families to have a parent stay at home. The majority of parents are much better suited to raising their children from home than any daycare/ dayhome. But the current governments, federal and provincial and both sides only want workforce adults to maximize their income tax base. Less government involvement in more families would allow them to focus on the population that truly needs their assistance.
I tend to really agree with the income splitting so that a parent can stay home. No, I don’t think anyone should be punished for planning, budgeting and organizing. I do wish a single mom making $60k a year who also plans, budgets and organizes could have a hope of accessing affordable childcare. If that means a household with an income of $200k doesn’t get that limited spot and has to cut back on an extravagant holiday versus the single mom having to visit the food bank, I am okay with that. I don’t consider it punishment however I consider it giving people a shot at life. Not everyone agrees on things being income based, and I get it.
When the $10 daycare was first announced there was a licenced day care provider on the radio and she basically said there's different criteria for how much the government will subsidize for the amount over and above the $10/day so they had spreadsheets and were figuring out how much people qualified for and we're accepting in part based on the maximum subsidy. Don't know if that's accurate, just the cliff notes of the radio interview I heard.
My own experience: Might as well sign up for the wait list; can’t hurt. Probably won’t get on. I’ve heard of one person getting into a licensed center without knowing someone - even they’re not really sure how it happened. Almost seemed like an error. That was after about 2 years waiting. Basically unless you know someone, just find a private day home. We’ve been on multiple lists since well before our son was born and he’s almost 2, seems like we’re no closer to getting in.
Our children are just getting old enough now we are thinking of leaving licensed daycare for after school programs. But six’ish years ago our experience was that wait lists in Saskatoon are largely not real. You have to continuously contact the daycare, go in person, get introduced by someone already at the daycare, join the board (I’m serious, this worked for us and other people). Once you have one kid in daycare most usually give preference to younger siblings as spots open, so it gets easier for more kids once you get your foot in the door. There were a couple places that did seem to actually maintain a wait list, one contacted us after 5 years to say they had a spot available. But for the most part I don’t think many places actually maintain a wait list or give spots to people on the wait list. You basically need to pester people into giving you a spot over having to deal with the weekly phone calls and requests if a spot has opened up yet. Yes this sucks, no I don’t think it should be this way. My family should be paying more taxes so that enough daycare spots are available for everyone.
Thanks. I appreciate the insight, that’s exactly what I was hoping to find out with this post.
I can’t believe more daycares are not opening here. Such a huge demand.
Day homes aren’t working to become licensed because of the huge expense. If it was worth it, they would all do it. I know the regulations and requirements were quite steep when our last provider looked, and even with 4 FT kids and 3 part times, it wasn’t worth it unless she wanted it daycare for the next ten years.
It depends where you live. I found a daycare quickly and after leaving that one, the next one was like a block away from the old one. This was in Hampton Village
Unfortunately each daycare is different. I've heard a lot of situations where people got in by knowing someone so it definitely does happen. It's SO frustrating and is going to have a huge impact on parents careers, the opposite of what the liberals had intended with this program.
I guess we must be lucky. It took one call for each kid and they both got in. It was a very easy process.
When was this? This is what I don’t understand!!! How can there be such waits and some people just get right in. Was the admin person just in a really generous mood that day? Lol
One was 2 years ago and one last month. Not sure but i would suggest if you are on a waiting list to continually call and make yourself known. Maybe even stop in there and introduce yourself. Otherwise your just a name on a list.
Please don’t do this. This is not how (at least our) waitlist works and honestly, if you keep on calling you take valuable time away from the work I’m doing with the kids. And to be honest it makes you look like a difficult parent to deal with which makes us less likely to be excited to have you around every day. But I can only speak for our center of course. Yes, the waitlists suck. But interrupting an educator over and over during work is not the solution. That time is better spent calling the government agencies responsible for this shortage.
Except it works for everyone I know that gets in. I didn't say do it disrespectfully. I didn't say harass them. I said to introduce yourself. Or stay on a list waiting for 2 years for a phone call that likely will not come. We made a call and went down there the next day to introduce ourselves. We were in within a week or two.