Profit and Non-Profit Childcare Centers: A Canadian Perspective

This research paper delves into the contrasting worlds of profit and non-profit childcare centers, providing a comprehensive analysis of their operational models, advantages, and disadvantages. It begins by defining and differentiating between profit-driven centers, which prioritize financial gains, and non-profit organizations, which are driven by a commitment to societal betterment. The paper explores the impact of childcare centers on children's development, including both positive aspects such as enhanced social and cognitive skills, and potential drawbacks like weaker parent attachment and behavioral difficulties. A significant portion of the essay focuses on a comparative study of childcare centers in Canada, referencing research that highlights the quality differences between profit and non-profit models. The analysis includes a discussion of the factors contributing to these differences, such as staffing, wages, and resource allocation. The paper concludes by advocating for the benefits of non-profit childcare, citing ethical and practical reasons why this model is preferable, particularly in the context of Canada's childcare landscape.

Running Head: Profit and Non- Profit Child Care
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PROFIT ANDNON-PROFIT CHILD CARE CENTERS
RESEARCH PAPPER
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Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 1
Introduction
Childcare services are also known as day care services. It is a supervision center for
children aged between six weeks to thirteen years. Childcare centers take care of the children by
proving the children with babysitters, nannies and teachers another provider. Childcare also
includes activities as well which help in development of children. In this essay, the profit and
nonprofit childcare centers are discussed. Profit childcare centers are those which are owned by
an individual or a group of individual and are there motive is to earn money, while the non-profit
organizations are those which are run by the government and there main motive is to bring
change in the society. This essay is a study of profit and nonprofit childcares in Canada their pros
and cons, and the essay also does a comparison between the profit and nonprofit childcare
centers (Rachidi, 2016).
Profit childcare centers
These kinds of childcare centers are owned and controlled by a single person or a group
of individuals. The main aim of such organization is to earn profit or make money. These kind of
childcare centers are totally depended on the money paid by the parents. The parents pat money
for the services of the childcare centers (Cohodes et al, 2016). Some of the Canadian profit
childcare centers are upper childcare and campus childcare. These kind of childcare centers can
also be incorporated or a form of sole proprietorship or any other form of ownership (Britto, et
al, 2017).

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 2
Non-profit childcare centers
Non-profit childcare centers provide services without financial gain; their main motive is
to bring change in the society. The get funds from the government to operate. Nonprofit
childcare centers hire their staffs even the directors who are highly trained and paid better. Some
of the Canadian nonprofit childcare centers are Ymca childcare, Enderby childcare and Fulton
childcare (Lee, 2016).
Effects of childcare centers on development on children
There are some positive effects and some negative effect of childcare centers
1. Weaker parent attachment
Some of the children who spend less time at home and more time at the childcare
centers experience a weak parent attachment. The facts from national health care
organization show that the mothers who spent fewer hours with their children are less
sensitive. And do not share a positive bond with the children, which can even lead to
negative behaviors in the children the study also shows that if the children spent more
than 10 hours in the low quality childcare centers they are more likely to get effected by
this issue. The quality of childcare centers also has impact on the children (Banks, 2017).
2. Behavioral difficulties
The day care environments sometimes also promoted negative behavior issues,
which included things such as frustration and aggression due to spending separated time
from the parents. The national academics once reported a finding where they observed
the amount of time spent in day care and the poor behavior of children. According to a

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 3
study done by national institute of health, children who spent around 8-10 hours in
childcare centers tended to be more disobedient, argumentative and frustrated (Banks,
2017).
3. Interaction with adults
Day care provides the children with the opportunity to see adults as a mentors and
authority figures. A study done by the childcare health and the human development study
show that the high quality day cares quality of care giving and provides the children with
the respond to the children vocals, they provide encouragement, show positive attitude
and discourage the negative interactions in the environment of daycare (Banks, 2017).
4. Regular activities and schedules
The childcare centers have schedule for every child and all the children are
provided with activities that include tasks and storytelling. These tasks are good for the
intellectual growth of the children and the development of the children. The scheduled
activities are very tension free for the parents as well as they worry less about the
behavior of the children (Brilli, Del Boca & Pronzato, 2016).
5. Language and cognitive development
One of the main advantage of childcare centers that have been observed by the
national institute of health are the setting od day cares have large vocabulary and high
cognitive functioning and this helps the children to develop good language skills.
Children who spent high amount of time in the childcare have good vocabulary scores
when they enter the school (Banks, 2017).

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 4
6. Social growth
In the setting of childcare centers the children are able to learn the importance of
maintain relationships with the peers and the adults. The children of daycare are able to
have positive interactions with their mother (Banks, 2017)
7. Health concerns
One of the major concerns of childcare centers are common illness issues that
might take place such as the communicable diseases. This is a major concern that the
parents have in a childcare center. The national institute of health found out that the
greater amount the children spent in the childcare center the more they were in contact
with the illness and infections (Copeland at al, 2012).
Profit childcares V/S Non- Profit childcares
University of Toronto studied the ratings of quality for the 325 childcare centers across
Canada. Gordon Cleveland and Michael Krashinsky two researchers who were part of this
research found that the nonprofit organizations scored around 10% higher than then the profit
childcare centers. A report released by the University of Toronto showed 42 different childcare
centers and the highest ranked were mostly the nonprofit childcare centers. The main reason
behind the better scores of non- profit childcare centers are that they are able to put extra money
back into their centers. Nonprofit centers also have good and better-trained staff and pay high
wages. Thus according to this study the non-profit centers in Canada are better in quality then the
profit childcare centers (CNBC, 2019).

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 5
Childcare centers should not be for profit
Martha Friendly an executive director of the Child Care Resource and Research Unit and Susan
Prentice is a professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba gave three reasons why
Canada or any other country should not have profit childcare center (Havnes & Mogstad, 2015).
The first reason given by them was that that the childcare centers should not be private is the as
the profit gaining has a negative impact on the access and quality. The profit childcare centers
have a very quality of services. A research done by the university of Manitoba shows that
ownership is one of the main reason behind low quality due to the factors such as wages, early
education, working conditions and the staff turnover. There is a very difficult relationship
between the fees of parents and the quality (Leviten-Reid, 2012).
The second reason that was given was that the commercial or the profit childcare is not efficient
as it spends the dollars earned by the public to increase the profits of private assets like property.
The third reason behind not having a profit childcare center is an ethical reason. Just like the
education and healthcare industry, childcare is also a public commodity. Hence, childcare centers
should not be for profit (Liu, 2015).
Canada is a country that is still lagging behind in this and which treats childcare as a commodity.
The commercial operators increase their private profits by claiming more shares from the funds
of public. However, now the Canadians can see that through the false promise that the nonprofit
childcares are better option for the children. There is also increase in awareness of universal
childcare and that nonprofit are good for childcare services also the government of Canada is
finally handling this issue and making people more aware about the nonprofits (Friendly, 2014).

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 6
Conclusion
In this essay, the profit and nonprofit childcare centers are discussed. The nonprofit childcare
centers. The profit childcare centers are those, which are owned and controlled by the
individual’s or a group of individuals for the main motive of profit earning while the nonprofits
are for bringing changes in the society their motive is not to earn money but to provide quality
services. This essay has discussed many advantages and disadvantages of childcare centers.
Childcare centers can help a child develop social skills, language skills, improve the schedule of
children but at the same time can also have a negative impact on the behavior of the children, can
affect the parent and child relationship and can affect the overall development of a child. Next,
this essay also compares the profit and nonprofit childcare centers in Canada. According to many
researchers it is concluded that the nonprofit childcare centers are much better than the profit
child care centers and Canada should makes people more aware about the nonprofit child care
centers at they are the best for young children.

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 7
References
Banks, L. (2017). Effects of Daycare on Child Development. Retrieved from:
https://healthfully.com/101674-daycare-effects-child-development.html
Brilli, Y., Del Boca, D., & Pronzato, C. D. (2016). Does child care availability play a role in
maternal employment and children’s development? Evidence from Italy. Review of
Economics of the Household, 14(1), 27-51.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... &
MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The
Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.
CNBC. (2019). Non-profit day care better than for-profit: study. Retrieved from:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/non-profit-day-care-better-than-for-profit-study-
1.539738
Cohodes, S. R., Grossman, D. S., Kleiner, S. A., & Lovenheim, M. F. (2016). The effect of child
health insurance access on schooling: Evidence from public insurance
expansions. Journal of Human Resources, 51(3), 727-759.
Copeland, K. A., Sherman, S. N., Kendeigh, C. A., Kalkwarf, H. J., & Saelens, B. E. (2012).
Societal values and policies may curtail preschool children’s physical activity in child
care centers. Pediatrics, 129(2), 265.

Profit and Non- Profit Child Care 8
Friendly, M. (2014). Child care shouldn't be for profit. Retrieved from:
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/child-care-shouldnt-be-for-profit-
284428981.html
Havnes, T., & Mogstad, M. (2015). Is universal child care leveling the playing field?. Journal of
public economics, 127, 100-114.
Lee, K. (2016). Impact of child care arrangements on A ustralian children's cognitive outcome:
moderation effects of parental factors. Child & Family Social Work, 21(2), 176-187.
Leviten-Reid, C. (2012). Organizational form, parental involvement, and quality of care in child
day care centers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(1), 36-57
Liu, M. (2015). An ecological review of literature on factors influencing working mothers’ child
care arrangements. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(1), 161-171.
Rachidi, A. (2016). Child care assistance and nonstandard work schedules. Children and Youth
Services Review, 65, 104-111.