TABLE 12.

Characteristics of child care services offered at Canadian universities (1975)

Comment:

Table 12 indicates that there are some in congruencies in day care services available at Canadian universities. For example, 31% of the services are provided for children under 2 years of age, but only 18% of the children cared for are in these services. This may be the result of lower staff: child ratios required for this age group, or simply the result of poor planning. Only two universities provide drop-in day care services. The vast majority of all group services are developed and run as parent cooperatives. A recent (1977) update in this information shows that 72% of the reporting universities have waiting lists which vary in number from a low of 15 to a high of 200. The average waiting list is for 70 spaces and this number is approximately 80% of the number actually accommodated in existing facilities. The waiting period varies from 3 months to 24 months, with the average being 12 months.

^1. Direct services are defined as including day care centres, nurseries, family care services, etc. which go directly to the child involved.

^2. Indirect services are defined as including toy-book lending libraries, health services, recreational services, adult resource centres, counseling services, etc., which may benefit the child but only indirectly.