Includes public health and health services, social services, law enforcement, first responders
British Columbia is working on a process to give access to childcare to parents who are working on the front lines of the province’s COVID-19 response and have children up to five years of age.
Child Care Resource Referral (CCRR) centres in 38 communities will act as community-based hubs and reach out to essential-service workers in their area who filled in a form to connect them with available licensed child care spaces.
Children of parents who work in public health and health services, social services, law enforcement, first responders and emergency response sectors will be prioritized for childcare spaces. Additional spaces will then be given to families working in other crucial roles, defined as essential service workers.
The process will remain in place for as long as the provincial health officer advises that all parents, if able, should care for their children at home and that child care services can and must be provided for those families whose parents work in critical roles, says the government.
Nearly nine in 10 (89 per cent) employers in North America are determining whether to pay employees during periods of absences amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey from employment law firm Littler.
