Work-Related Child Care in Context: A Study of Work-Related Child Care in Canada. Occasional Paper No. 3.

This report describes Canada's current child care policy and service provisions, presents the findings from a survey of work-related child care services in Canada and goes on to analyze work-related child care within the broader context of child care policy. The survey questioned the directors of 176 employer-supported child care centers throughout Canada. Detailed results of this survey are presented, outlining levels of financial support, schedules, fees, auspice, reported problems, benefits, and disadvantages. The survey found that work-related child care is a growing trend, that it receives significant public financial support, that its rates are similar or higher to community-based programs, and that work-related child care is not very flexible to employees' needs. The report concludes that work-related child care is not an answer to Canada's child care situation. It is not a solution from a practical point of view, since it is a discretionary, individual response to a societal issue, not a public policy solution. (MDM)