A day care owner is calling on Government to subsidise local facilities to help owners meet the financial demands of caring for infant children.

Juanita Campbell, president of the Bermuda Nursery Association, said parents were faced with few choices in day care for infants under the age of two.

She said Government's ratio of one care giver to every three children has made it challenging financially for day care owners to run baby rooms at their nurseries. Business costs and the need to employ qualified care givers has led day care owners to shut down baby rooms and accept children over the age of two.

Mrs. Campbell, who runs Full Armour Christian Academy in Warwick, had to shut down her own infant room three years ago. She is now considering re-opening the facility to meet the demand from parents who want their children to be cared for at established facilities.

“We comply with the ratio and we accept the ratio for safety reasons but this is now becoming a Government issue. Government can pay top dollar at their nurseries, but private nursery schools have more of a challenge paying the staff.”

Mrs. Campbell pointed out that to meet the legal requirement - a day care with ten infants would need three dedicated teachers “not counting the rest of the staff”.

She said parents were forced to put their children in home day cares which are cheaper and more accessible. And she said children from these facilities are often shy and emotionally withdrawn when they enter pre-school or nursery.

“They are not mentally prepared for nursery schools, we find they haven't been in a structured environment. It not only stunts their physical growth but their emotional growth as well. You wonder where they have come from and what happened.”

Sharon DeSilva, who runs Kiddie Academy and Baby Steps - a day care for children under age two - said her business has been inundated with calls from parents who want to move their infants out of home care centres to larger facilities.

Mrs. DeSilva said she had heard about home day care conditions from the director of a day care centre who checked into a home business herself as a concerned grandmother. “She found children sleeping in pumpkin seats (car seats) in the closet,” she said.

Day care owners are feeling the crunch, and last week Mrs. DeSilva had to turn away three parents requesting care for their children.

This week the Bermuda Private Nursery Association will meet to draft a list of safety standards for home care providers and day care centres.

People who are running day care services out of their homes are also due to attend a meeting with officials from the Health Department to discuss their concerns.

The Health Department is currently conducting a widespread review of all home day care centres on the Island to ensure they have met the required safety standards and are properly licensed and registered.

Chief Environmental Health Officer Estlyn Harvey said more than a dozen home care providers are expected to attend the meeting. They will discuss their concerns with Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann. She told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Government has not devised alternatives for working parents in search of day care centres outside the home.

“Parents are having trouble finding places for infants, we're looking at alternatives with different Government programmes such as the Child Development programme to see what we can do to meet the demand for day care,” she said.

Mrs. Harvey told The Royal Gazette that day cares will be inspected more than once a year and home care providers may receive additional training in a series of workshops.

Recently Health Inspectors found disturbing conditions at home day care centres including dirty toys, unsafe play areas, and stressed out care givers.

Home day care providers have received letters of warning to clean up their businesses and reduce the number of children in their care, or face closure.