A province-wide shortage of day care is forcing parents to give up careers or get creative.

The shouts of toddlers slithering through tunnels and gliding off slides onto thick foam mats echo through the east foyer of Capilano Mall.

Dozens of nannies and parents have gathered at Go Banana's, a kids' play facility, to escape the boredom of an overcast afternoon.

Bogged down with plastic bags full of unopened toys is Lianne Coetzee. Mention the word day care to her and the bags drop as her gaze hardens. Like most of the mothers here, Coetzee has struggled with the "D" word.

"I didn't know anyone whose kids were in day care so I really just had to trust strangers," she explains.

"I didn't know if they'd just be doing their housework and just have my kids in front of the TV all day, but I was offered work and I didn't have much time to do research."

The only place that could take both her six-year-old daughter and four-year-old son was run by an icy businesswoman who seemed more interested in reading Visa receipts than stories to her children.

To top it off, Coetzee, who works part-time as a recruitment co-ordinator, was spending 60 per cent of her earnings on the $900 monthly fee.

But that rate is comparable across the North Shore and she had nowhere else to put her children.

As it turned out, her kids took to one of the teachers, and an artistic woman with a passion for childcare took over the North Vancouver facility. It's a lucky twist of fate because any other day care Coetzee would consider leaving her children at likely has a waiting list of 50 or more.

That is the very reason Samantha Mason's one-year-old twin sons are already on the wait list for toddler care. They may not be old enough to say the word "LEGO" yet, but the North Vancouver lawyer worries if she doesn't put them in the first-come, first-serve queue now, she won't be able to find a respectable day care for them before they turn three.

Her fears are not unfounded.

In fact, they arise from previous experience.

Four years ago, Mason and her husband started looking for a day care for their five-month-old daughter, Sarah. After visiting 30 day cares and leaving their infant in licence-not-required facilities for two years, Sarah was accepted into Froggy Pad Daycare, a respected childcare facility just blocks from their home. She now hopes her boys will be accepted by June of 2008.

"I still think it's a crap shoot," she says. "If a spot comes up in February, I'll have to make the decision. A lot of it's out of your control. I know people who weren't planning on going back to work early, but a spot opened up so they had to take it."

Both Coetzee and Mason know their struggles aren't unique. They are among the 1,235 parents who contacted the North Shore's Childcare Resource and Referral Program this year requesting help with finding care for their children.

That number reflects a 29 per cent increase from 2005, when 956 parents contacted North Shore childcare resources. Meanwhile, childcare space on the North Shore only went up 12.4 per cent.

The disparity in numbers begs the question: Why aren't businesses capitalizing on the demand?

When Catherine Lee first opened Froggy Pad Daycare, it consisted of her and eight children. The early childhood education worker spent 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. finger-painting and telling stories, Monday to Friday all year, loving every minute of it. She didn't want to shut down the day care after she had her own children so she decided to hire more teachers and expand to include 10 children, plus an out-of-school care program for 10.

Even though there are 12 kids to fill every space she creates at her day care - at the moment there are 59 children on her wait list - the expansion hasn't resulted in a lucrative living.

"There really isn't any money to be made running a day care," she explains from a miniature chair in her carport, which has been renovated into a day care.

"It's a labour of love rather than a way to make a lot of money."

She estimates the cost of creating one day care space is between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on the age of the child. That money is spent on tables, chairs, toys, first-aid boxes, resource materials for teacher training, and doesn't include wages.

She pays her teachers $14 per hour - not nearly as much as she thinks they deserve - but more than she can afford. And she admits she's gone into debt renovating her Upper Lynn Valley home to meet provincial regulations that provide a safe and fun environment for the children she tends to.

"There's not a lot of [financial] incentive. Margins are so small that it's hard to pay your investments back."

In May, Lee formally requested the District of North Vancouver to allow her to increase her day care capacity by 30 per cent - six more spaces. The expansion meets provincial childcare requirements and Lee received preliminary consent from North Shore Health. But District of North Vancouver staff rejected her application, stating the municipality's childcare regulations don't allow for more than 20 children in care in a residential unit.

"If the bylaw changes it would create six more spaces on the day care side, which doesn't seem like a lot, but that's six more children that wouldn't be looking for care anymore. When you're a parent looking for space - it would relieve their worries and allow them to continue their careers."

Last month, Coun. Janice Harris proposed a motion to amend the district's childcare regulations to permit more than 20 children in a residential unit, subject to certain conditions.

Harris noted the case of Froggy Pad Daycare, which prompted letters of support from neighbours and parents who were affected by the community's day-care shortage. Some had abandoned careers, others were forced to rely on grandparents or trade off child-minding duties with other parents to make up for the lack of space.

Council instructed staff to include the amendment in its review of the district's childcare regulations, but Lee still doesn't know if she will be granted the six additional spaces.

She says the extra spots would create revenue to help subsidize the money she'll lose in March when the federal Liberal government's Child Care Funding Grant ends.

But if council votes against her request, she will find a way to keep her day care running.

"Basically we'll have to increase our prices. We don't want to, that's why we want to go up, but regardless if I continue to work in debt or not I'm still going to continue Froggy Pad. I opened it to have a safe and fun learning environment for children and they're worth it."

June Maynard, manager of the North Shore's Childcare Resource and Referral Program, hears stories like Lee's on a regular basis.

Every day her agency is challenged to help an increasing number of parents connect with the slow growth of day-care facilities. The problem is not confined to the North Shore. There is a critical shortage of day care, particularly for children under three, throughout the province.

"There is an increase of the number of people getting back into the workforce and school," Maynard explains. "People are also becoming more aware of the benefits of early childhood education, so the demand has increased."

In West Vancouver, day cares aren't allowed in commercial zones.

If a person wants to care for more than seven children, the municipality classifies the business as a group day care and a zoning bylaw requires written consent from all adjacent property owners within 500 feet of their residence.

Group day cares are permitted in public assembly zones, which consist of churches and schools.

The regulations are being reviewed by the district in light of the shortage of care, but the review isn't expected to be tendered until the spring of next year.

"We're hearing from the day care operators that they need to be able to expand," says Liz Holitzki, manager of bylaw and licence services.

"I don't have a flood of letters or phone calls from parents saying there's not enough day cares, but we hear in general on the North Shore that there's not enough so we need to address that."

Maynard believes the North Shore municipalities have been supportive of childcare, noting the established North Shore Childcare Planning Committee, which offers childcare grants and encourages the districts to designate houses for day care.

However, the future of childcare is uncertain. When the federal Liberal government signed a childcare agreement with the provinces, Maynard was optimistic a system of care would be established. But that agreement was quashed with the end of the Liberal reign, and even with the Conservative's universal childcare benefit, Maynard feels there's some uncertainty.

"They've said they'll have initiatives for space creations, but they haven't yet come out with what those initiatives will look like, so it's hard to tell."

The numbers game

Day care capacity on the North Shore: 5,271.

There are 234 licensed day care facilities on the North Shore with a capacity of 5,271 spaces. Minimum qualifications for a group day care for children under 36 months are: one qualified infant and toddler educator; one qualified early childhood educator (ECE); one assistant; a first aid certificate required for minimum of one staff on duty. The staff to infant ratio is 1 to 4.

Group day care requirements for children older than 36 months are: Qualified early childhood educator; assistants must be in the process of ECE or have a provincial assessment letter; first aid certificate for minimum of one staff on duty. The staff to toddler ratio is 1 to 8.

There are 409 registered licence-not-required (LNR) providers on the North Shore with a capacity of 974 spaces. A LNR provider can provide care from his or her own home for a maximum of two children who are not related to the provider. To register as an LNR provider with Child Care Resource and Referral a LNR provider must: be at least 19 years of age; receive a standardized self-evaluation; complete an interview with the CCRR; undergo criminal record check; ensure a criminal record check is complete for everyone else in the home who is 12 years of age or older; provide two character references; have a valid first aid certificate or proof of registration; agree to inform the CCRR of any investigation of the care provider or other members of the household involving child abuse, neglect or health or safety risks; complete at least 24 hours of family childcare training or equivalent education within the first year; commit to attend at least two workshops per year of continuing professional development after registration; sign a standardized commitment of agreement and consent.

Stats:

Last year 31,634 B.C. parents were provided with referrals to local child care facilities.

Monthly cost of infant/toddler child care ranges between $600 and $1,225 for one full-time space.

64 per cent of requests at the North Shore Child Care Resource and Referral Centre in 2006 were for children under three.

17 per cent were for children three to five.

13 per cent were for school-age children.