Parent ‘blindsided’ by sudden removal from extended day child care program

Parents say they’re still struggling with Waterloo Region’s extended day child care programs, with only one week left until school is set to begin.

“I had initially enrolled her for before and after school care due to my work schedule,” explained Alissa Gooden, whose daughter Azariah has been in the program for the last four years.

She said she got a confirmation email on Aug. 9.

Then, on Aug. 23, she received another message.

“Sadly, Friday I received an email saying that she was withdrawn from the program,” Gooden said.

OneHSN is the company behind the software program that process childcare enrollment.

They said in the email: “Due to capacity limits in the program throughout the year, an error occurred while processing your registration, and your child was mistakenly scheduled for individual days in early September. The program is currently full for the entire school year. Any confirmation you may have received was incorrect. These single days were reflected in your schedule, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”

Gooden said she had to scramble to find child care for the first two weeks of school, but what happens after that is still up in the air.

“I'm still panicking on the inside, definitely, I'm still waiting to hear back from the extended day program to hopefully see if they've made accommodations or have it fixed,” she said.

Without a reliable childcare option, Gooden worries she’ll have to quit her job.

“I can't adjust my schedule to accommodate the school day, so if I can't find the alternate accommodations, that potentially means me losing my job,” she explained. “[I’ll have] to look for another job that works within the hours.”

Other parents who spoke to CTV News, but did not want to go on record, said they’re in the same predicament and may have to quit to care for their kids.

Some parents were told that instead of Monday to Friday child care they were only accepted on certain days and not always before and after school.

CTV News reached out to OneHSN but did not hear back by our deadline.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board said in a statement: “It is important to note that there have been ongoing system glitches with OneList, which are beyond the control of the WCDSB. These glitches have unfortunately caused numerous errors, leading to confusion and stress among families. We have been in constant communication with OneHSN, meeting several times a week to get updates on their progress in resolving these issues. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the system continues to experience operational errors. We continue to work to ensure that our programs are ready to operate as planned.”

The Catholic school also said they are doing what they can to open up more child care spaces.

“As of August 21, we have been able to raise caps in four of our programs, allowing 52 more students to join. Additionally, we hired 24 new ECEs over the summer and continue to actively recruit for additional positions. Our goal is to review and adjust staffing and programming capacity regularly, moving as many students off the waitlist as possible.”

CTV News also reached out to the Waterloo Region District School Board.

A statement from the board read in part: “We are aware that due to vendor errors, approximately 150 families who were planning to access Before and After School programming received notification they have been placed on a waitlist. The timing of the notification has created challenges for families to make decisions and create alternative child care arrangements.”

They added that due to their current staffing and facility constraints there is “limited to no ability” to expand the Before and After School programs.

“Here at the WRDSB, we have seen a total of 5,250 children register in the Before and After School programs for the 2024-25 school year. This represents an increase of 1,106 children compared to the 2023-24 school year.”