Deadline to fill out child care survey nearing

Over the past month, the Fort Frances Children’s Complex has been looking for community input on the child care needs of local residents through a questionnaire.
The deadline for participants to fill these out and return them to the town is next Thursday (April 21).
Drop-off locations include the Fort Frances Children’s Complex, Fort Frances Public Library, Memorial Sports Centre, Civic Centre, Family and Children’s Services, Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, and the Emo Toy Library.
“There hasn’t been a great big response,” said Children’s Complex superintendent Phyllis Kellar. “We’re hoping to get more questionnaires back before that deadline.
“The idea for the questionnaire came from the Children’s Complex Advisory Committee,” she noted. “We want to make sure that we’re meeting child care needs in the community.”
The survey asks questions such as:
•Do you or anyone in your family have children under 12 years of age?
•Do they currently utilize child care?
•Do they currently use the services of the Fort Frances Day Care or the town’s licensed Private Home Day Care Program? If you do not, why not?  
•If you are aware of the program and currently do not use it, what changes would meet your needs and encourage you to explore using these programs?
•What days and hours of care would you require if you choose to enroll your child in our programs?
•If your school-aged children do not attend a before and or after school program, why not?
•If after-school care for school-aged children was available in your school, would you consider enrolling your children?
The information in the questionnaire will be used to review changes to the Children’s Complex and programs that will better meet the needs of families in Fort Frances and the surrounding area, noted Kellar.
Such changes could be as simple as having a particular service/program available on a certain day, or at a certain time, in order to meet parents’ needs, she added.
Those who want to fill out a survey, which was inserted in the March 7 edition of Daily Bulletin, can pick them up at the locations mentioned above.
Or it can be filled out and submitted on-line by visiting the town’s website at www.fort-frances.com