Moving to Ottawa

Hi guys, I'll be moving to Centrepointe in Ottawa with my husband, 2 year old boy and dog this July from the UK. We're looking into daycare for our son but I'm struggling to find part-time care. I'm not sure how it works in Canada because normally we can choose how many days to put our kids into daycare here. Basically our son has never been to nursery so I'm concerned about putting him straight into a full time programme. I would prefer to have the choice of easing him into it. If anyone can shed some light into how daycare normally works I'd really appreciate it. Maybe I'm looking into the wrong type of childcare 😅

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The city of ottawa has a childcare portal where you put the hours you want and you get put on a waitlist, https://ottawa.ca/en/family-and-social-services/childrens-services/apply-child-care#section-ea889777-3547-4697-bac2-e6e50d3b3dbd I think there are private daycares not on the list, you’d have to google :)

@Tala K. Thank you so much!

You can try the Centrepointe child care services. They do have part time options. I know that the daycare at Knoxdale had a part time spot last fall but am not sure if it’s still available. You can also explore mother craft and wee watch for part time options. Would also suggest you join Being Neighbourly Nepean (you’ll have to tell them where you’re moving to to join). I’m on that group so if you have issues joining you can pm me and I’ll see if I can help.

@Tara thank you for the info 😊

The problem is that there are not enough daycare spots to meet demand and many daycares find it easier and more efficient to have all full time kids. Definitely get yourself on waitlists for centers but the chances of getting a spot by July are essentially 0 in the meantime look for Facebook childcare connection groups for your area to try to find in home daycare providers who might have spaces available sooner and get on their waitlists too

Thanks for the info! I've realised that it's going to be tough getting in. Especially for us as we only registered in the OneHSN registry and waitlist recently! I definitely don't expect to get anywhere this year.