Cleaning out some old magazines, I came across a great set of daycare articles in Today’s Parent that I think is a must-read for parents and providers alike.

• Daycare decisions: Finding the right child care arrangement can be overwhelming. Here’s help sorting through your options. Full story here.
• Child Care. What Canadian Parents Need Now: Listen up, politicians, as Today’s Parent readers tell it like it is. Full story here.
• Report Card: How the provinces — and the country — spend on child care. Full story here.
• Four Ideas That Could Change Child Care: Surprise — it may happen sooner than you think. Full story here.

Don’t forget there are great resources and links on Durham Region Daycare for parents and providers.

Welcome to another provider profile, where we highlight the great childcare workers in Durham Region!

Name: Moyra Stephen

Family: I have two wonderful sons, aged 30 and 29; my youngest son has cerebral palsy, and was the inspiration for starting Cardinal Nannies and Companions Inc. 23 years ago.

Daycare type & location: Cardinal Nannies is a caregiver placement agency in Whitby. We hire and place nannies for children and caregivers for the elderly and those with special needs throughout Durham Region. We handle requests from families for short term, and long term, part-time and full-time, live-in and live-out care. We place live-in nannies, from Quebec and the Maritimes, or here from overseas on a work permit, anywhere in Canada, and abroad.

How long in business: I started December 1, 1985.

Why did you decide to become a childcare provider?: My personal experience was providing in-home daycare for children. I also volunteered in a hospital with children, the elderly, and with special needs. My professional background was in marketing. Then I had a son with special needs. It was very difficult to find appropriate providers for his care, so that was why I established Cardinal Nannies.

What’s your favourite part of the day?: I enjoy early mornings. I watch the sunrise, and prepare for each new day with curiosity, wondering what will be different about it, and wondering what I will know at the end of the day, that I didn’t know at the beginning.

What do you find most challenging about your job?: I am very mindful of the responsibility I have in placing caregivers in families’ homes, and endeavouring to find the right nanny for each family, and the right family for each nanny.

What makes you unique?: We give each families’ request our personal attention, and we genuinely care about all of the people we meet. I personally interview the nanny applicants and meet many of the families before arranging for them to interview caregivers. Most families choose the first person we send them.

Describe some of the interesting backgrounds of your nannies: I have recruited in England and Ireland and the Caribbean as well as hiring nannies from all over the world. These days many come from the Philippines to make a better life for their children. As a mother, I admire their courage in leaving their family behind to come to a new country and work with our families. Many have been taken advantage of, and some have been mistreated, but they still continue to do their job every day.

Favourite memory as a provider: I appreciate the feedback from a client that we found them the perfect nanny, and their children are happy and well cared for.

If you could change one thing, what would it be?: I wish people could be upfront about what they want, and then it’s easier to help them find it.

Anie, one of the women from my weekly Durham Mom’s Night Out group, is due with her first baby right about now, and is already thinking about daycare for her daughter — and rightly so.

She is only able to take four months off from work.

So that means she needs care for an almost-newborn baby, and really soon. Here are the questions her and her husband are debating:

• Do they start looking for care now, or wait until it’s closer to the time they need it?
• The pros and cons of home, centre and nanny care for such a young baby
• Will a newborn be more expensive to car for? If so, how much?

Any advice for her?

I’ve sent her the links from the resource page for parents on the site, which includes great links on questions to ask potential childcare providers, and how to decide what is right for your family.

Personally, I think she should start looking ASAP, as finding care for a baby so young may prove to be difficult when a year or older is far more common. I’d think a nanny would be the best bet, at least for the first few months until the baby is older. Which raises the question of a live-in or live-out person.

Anie’s going to be checking in her for your tips and suggestions, so please leave a comment below for her.

Thanks for sharing your expertise!