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This evaluation study of the transition to Supported Child Care Strategic Initiative was conducted by the Cumorah Group under the direction of the Federal-Provincial Joint Evaluation Working Group. This joint committee was comprised of representatives from the partners - Human Resources Development Canada's BC Region and National Headquarters, and the former BC Ministries of Health, Social Services, Women's Equality, Skills/Training and Education.

The evaluation team would like to thank all those who contributed to the study.

MINISTRY CHANGES

There have been various Ministry changes since the signing of the Strategic Initiatives Agreement. These changes are as follows:

• the Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour and the Ministry of Education were restructured to form the two Ministries: Ministry of Education, Skills and Training and Ministry of Labour (February 28, 1996); and,

• those portions of the Ministries of Health, Social Services, and Women's Equality, which are involved with Supported Child Care, have merged (along with other portions of their Ministries and parts of Education and Attorney General) to form the Ministry for Children and Families (September 23, 1996).

In order to maintain the focus, these changes are not discussed in the body of the report.

FOREWORD

The transition to Supported Child Care (SCC) is one of three components of the Child Care Strategic Initiative, jointly funded by the Federal and Provincial Governments. The other two components are One Stop Access Centres and Regional Delivery Models/ Community Demonstration Projects. The overriding goals of the Child Care Strategic Initiative are to:

• improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of child care; and,

• create a more responsive, effective, efficient, and inclusive system for child care in BC.

• A separate framework has been adopted for evaluating the transition to SCC as it differs from the other two funded components. The other components are pilots of alternative models of service delivery, while the transition to SCC is a program shift which is being implemented provincially. In addition, while the other components address the child care sector as a whole, SCC specifically targets children with special needs and their families. The funding for this component addresses the transition from Special Needs Day Care to SCC, with the transition anticipated to be complete by 1999.

A NOTE ABOUT LANGUAGE

Throughout this report, the phrase children with special needs is used. While it is recognized that such words may cause readers discomfort by emphasizing the "separateness" of children, the term is used primarily to maintain clarity on whom the target population impacted by this program shift is. Furthermore, while the new framework intends to replace the diagnosis/disability-based approach to establishing eligibility with one based on a child's need for extra support, such criteria are not yet developed.