At a June 23, 2026 meeting of the Avon Maitland District School Board of Trustees, Jessica West stood before the board and described six years of childcare disruption that cost her jobs, cost her family savings, and eventually cost her the children’s program she had specifically chosen a school to access. Her family has had six different childcare providers since 2020. She is not an outlier. She is a data point in a system that is failing rural Ontario families at every turn.
Six Providers in Six Years
West, a dairy service technician and mother of two boys near Brucefield in Huron County, described a sequence of closures, staffing collapses, and last-minute scrambles that most Ontario parents will recognize even if the specific details differ. “At the end of the 2022/23 school year, my youngest son’s daycare notified us that she would be closing her daycare, and we found another home provider closer to Bluewater Coast in September of 2023,” she said. “Due to the short time frame, we were unable to find any child care and were required to take time off of work until the school year began.”
The most significant disruption came in August 2025, when London Bridge notified families that it was discontinuing childcare services at several schools due to ongoing staff shortages. Families received two weeks of notice before the start of school, and the actual closure came five weeks after the initial notification. The decision impacted 209 licensed spaces across three schools: Exeter Elementary School, Precious Blood Catholic School in Exeter, and Bluewater Coast Public School in Hensall. “Bluewater Coast was one of these schools, and we were at a loss for what to do for the foreseeable future, as our care plans relied so heavily on London Bridge,” West said.
Moving Schools to Find Care, Then Losing That Too
West’s family made the difficult decision to move their children to a different school in November 2025 specifically to access the before and after school program in Bayfield. It is the kind of decision that disrupts everything: school friendships, routines, bus routes, and community.
In June 2026, parents of children in the Bayfield program learned that the program had failed inspections on June 10. They were not informed at the time. “An employee confirmed that this information was correct, that another employee had since left, and these factors were the contributing reasons for the program closures. When parents had previously inquired about the closures, we were not informed of failed inspections. As a mother, I was distraught that this information had been withheld from us,” West said. On June 18, West received an email stating the Bayfield program would cease operation entirely at the end of the school year. “I lost my job in April and I had just started a new job on June 9, and already had to limit my availability in order to make sure I was home on the days there was no care,” she said.
The Cost to Families Is Not Abstract
West made the stakes clear to trustees. “While our child-care experience may be unique in certain ways, it is not unfamiliar to many parents today. The school day only lasts for a total of six hours, not including bus commute times. Workplaces of today typically require a minimum of eight hours for a full-time job, but it’s becoming more and more common for workplaces to demand nine to 10-hour days to meet business needs,” she said.
Her closing statement to the board captures what is at stake for families across rural Ontario: “We are looking at a future where we don’t know who will be watching our children. We are terrified of child care once again being taken away from us, losing our jobs because we cannot find reliable care, or that change will not come, and we will not be able to stay here.” A petition with 450 signatures had already been presented to the AMDSB calling for board-operated before and after school programs. Currently only 36 percent of AMDSB schools offer such programs. The Waterloo Region District School Board, by comparison, has had board-operated extended day programming in 100 percent of its elementary schools since 2009 through CWELCC participation. Trustee Robert Hunking acknowledged the structural problem: “It’s getting harder and harder to find the staff for before and after programs, so whether it’s board run or third party, I don’t see that issue going away, until we get more ECEs.”
Finding Care Without a Reliable Program
The before and after school care crisis in Huron County and across rural Ontario reflects the same problem driving the broader childcare shortage: available capacity exists but is invisible to families who need it, and the system has no efficient mechanism for connecting them in real time.
ChildSpot is a new option for Ontario families navigating exactly these gaps. The app shows real-time availability at licensed Ontario childcare centres. When a programme closes with two weeks notice, when a home daycare provider gives short notice, or when a family needs temporary care while their next arrangement gets sorted, ChildSpot shows what is available at licensed centres in the area right now. Parents search by date, location, and age group. Every listing is verified and holds an active licence with the Ontario Ministry of Education. CWELCC-enrolled centres offering the $22/day maximum rate are clearly labelled.
Jessica West’s family eventually found a way through each crisis. But it cost them jobs, sleep, savings, and a school community their children had built. That should not be the price of working in rural Ontario. ChildSpot cannot solve the structural ECE shortage or force school boards to operate more programs. What it can do is help families find available licensed care right now, while the longer-term solutions are still being negotiated.
Search available spots at licensed childcare centres near you at app.childspotapp.com or download the ChildSpot app on iOS. Free to search. Book in minutes.
Source: Bent, Kelsey. (July 6, 2026). “Families still seek help from AMDSB with before and after school childcare.” Stratford Today. Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. https://www.stratfordtoday.ca/local-news/families-still-seek-help-from-amdsb-with-before-and-after-school-childcare-12513370