It is affordable but not necessarily free. It is substantially, but not necessarily fully, publicly funded. High quality child care reflects the best available knowledge about child development. Current research tells us staff who are well trained in early childhood education provide developmentally appropriate, responsive caregiving. Staff who receive decent wages and benefits are likely to have low turnover and high morale.
Current research indicates that several structural variables have an impact on child care quality.
Current research also tells us that the quality of child care outside the family has a profound, perhaps lasting, impact on the development of children from all social classes. A comprehensive system of high quality child care for all children and families cannot be provided without substantial public funding. Canada's federal government must lead the way in ensuring that universally accessible, comprehensive, high quality child care becomes a priority and an essential part of our social and economic agenda. The Canadian Paediatric Society wishes to lead the way in Canada's medical community in calling for a system of universally accessible, comprehensive, high quality child care and will join with others in advocating for a national child care policy supporting its development. The recommendations in this position statement do not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or procedure to be followed.