Parents who found themselves scrambling for childcare after their daycare abruptly announced it was closing at the end of the month are now in an even worse situation.
Lily Pads Child Care announced last week it would be closing at the end of the month because the business is no longer financially viable. The plan changed Monday because of a flooding and it closed permanently.
“The ceiling was completely sunken in and there was a huge hole,” said parent Amy Bylhouwer.
Bylhouwer has two children that went to Lily Pads Child Care.
“I've spent $1600 on the month of November,” she said. “Eight hundred of that is kind of up in the air right now.”
Parent Kate Udle says she’s now scrambling to find childcare. She’s also concerned about staff that may not even get paid for their services last week.
“These poor women who worked there who have provided such unbelievable care to our son for the last year and a half and now they're very unexpectedly out of work, a month before Christmas,” said Udle.
While many parents are facing the difficult task of securing childcare, they say they're also concerned about what they’re calling a lack of communication.
Owner Kirk MacDonald says he doesn't have the answers.
“It happened fast and this is not how I expected the last two weeks to play out,” said MacDonald “I need to talk to a lot of people and I need to get a lot of things in motion.”
Parents are still left with a number of questions.
“I don't know if I'm going to get my money back,” said Bylhouwer. “Could you just tell me yes or no.”
“I can appreciate for them on the other side with no clarity into will I have childcare? Will I get my money? It can be very frustrating and it doesn't feel like it moves fast enough,” said MacDonald.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell.
