More parents scrambling to sort out child care due to OneList mistake

More families are reporting issues with the registration program for extended before and after school child care in Waterloo Region.

OneHSN, the company behind the system, admitted last week to a software malfunction that sent parents an email telling them they had secured a child care spot that didn’t actually exist.

Amelia Martin was one the parents who got the erroneous message.

She found out the Friday before the first day of school that her son Lincoln got into after school child care, but not the mornings.

“At about 6:30 at night, I received an email saying he no longer has before school care, which was of course very late notice and it's really put us in a terrible situation,” said Martin. “I feel frustrated and upset that I have this uncertainty.”

Lincoln starts Grade 1 on Wednesday.

Martin, who works as a healthcare provider, is struggling to find a child care solution.

“We’ve been waitlisted. I don't know if this is a short-term thing or a long-term thing. I think there needs to be more transparency with the waitlist so we can kind of plan accordingly. As for a long-term solution, I don't have one yet,” she said. “I'm worried that I'm going to have to start cutting back or change jobs to be able to be home to support him because I don't have that necessary program.”

Lincoln had been in the program for the last two years. She said he enjoys it there.

“He has a lot of friends that he plays with before school that aren't necessarily in his class and things,” Martin explained.

Amelia Martin and her son Lincoln at a Kitchener park on Sept. 3, 2024. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)

WCDSB admits to 'second round' of errors

As of last week, 229 children were reportedly on the waitlist for before and after school care.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) said the initial issue led to 79 families being waitlisted. But the problems didn’t start there.

“We have been in constant contact with OneList regarding this matter and are currently awaiting a detailed list of those impacted by this second round of errors,” said Lema Salaymeh, WCDSB’s senior manager of communications. “We fully share the frustration of the affected families.”

The Catholic board said there’s not much else they can do to help families since they’ve already expanded the program to increase capacity by 52 spots.

WRDSB contacts families

With the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), 150 students were impacted by the problem the first time.

“Demand for WRDSB before and after school programs continues to exceed the number available spaces and families may continue to be on waitlists pending availability,” said a statement from a WRDSB spokesperson.

The public school board said that they were not impacted this time around.

WRDSB Director of Education jeewan chanicka said they are working with families to try to rectify the issue.

“What we’re trying to do right now is to respond individually to families. In some cases it’s not that families don’t have care every single day, but they might want three days and they got two days. So we’re trying to figure out some of those things,” chanicka said. “It’s really hard because we try to be as prepared as possible because we understand the impact. I’m deeply, deeply sorry for the impact this has had on families. As a parent I understand it. We’re doing our best to literally work individually case by case to see how we can support families.”

OneHSN responds

Its unclear how many people got the second email.

When CTV News questioned OneHSN, they said the issue is out of their hands.

“As both WRDSB and WCDSB staff have now been trained on the system, their staff are managing registrations and waitlists for their school programs. This includes waitlisting children where program caps are met. These questions are best asked of WRDSB and WCDSB,” Darryl Buck, OneHSN CEO, said.