Preschool Children

This report sets out a plan to accomplish family policy across Canada through an integrated system of policies at all levels of government that work together to support parents to take care of their children. It focuses on issues and programs affecting children between the age of two and six. After an introduction on federal promises to children, section 2 reviews the status of children in Canada, including the incidence of family poverty, parental employment, mothers and single parent families and the labour market, and child care availability. Section 3 discusses child development issues including determinants of population health and the five main components of child development. Section 4 reviews Canadian programs for children aged two to six and their families, including child care, nursery schools and kindergartens, and family resource programs. The final section examines the value and costs of creating a flexible and integrated system of early childhood care and education that provides child care for those families with parents in the workforce and early childhood education programming for all who choose it. This section also proposes a way to put such a system in place.