How daycare educators are screened in BC, and how you can check

Every parent touring a childcare centre is really asking one question underneath all the others: who are these adults, and who checked them? It is an uncomfortable question to say out loud, so most families never do. They look at the room, the toys and the educator's manner, and they hope those signals stand in for the answer.

They do not have to. In British Columbia the screening requirements are written into two separate pieces of law, they apply to every licensed facility identically, and a parent can verify a good part of it without asking the centre anything at all.

Two laws, doing two different jobs

The first is the Criminal Records Review Act. Its stated purpose, in section 2, is to help prevent the physical and sexual abuse of children, and the physical, sexual and financial abuse of vulnerable adults, by requiring criminal record checks. That is unusually plain drafting for a statute, and it tells you exactly what the screening is aimed at.

The Act defines "work with children" as working with children directly, or having or potentially having unsupervised access to children, whether through employment, an occupation, an education program or volunteer work. The words "potentially having" matter. A person whose job is not hands-on care, but whose role could leave them alone with a child, falls inside the definition.

The Act sorts offences into two lists. Relevant offences focus on offences against children, including sexual offences and violent crime. Specified offences form the wider category, adding matters that bear on vulnerable adults, including financial crimes such as theft, fraud and forgery. Which list is applied depends on the population the person will be working with.

Checks are not a one-time event. The Act requires an existing employee to undergo a criminal record check at least once every five years. A person cleared once at hiring and never looked at again would not satisfy it.

The second law is the Child Care Licensing Regulation, BC Reg 332/2007. This is the operational rulebook for a licensed facility, and its hiring provisions go considerably further than a record check alone.

What a centre must obtain before anyone is employed

Section 19 of the regulation sets out the requirement. A licensee must not employ a person unless the licensee, or the manager where the person is not the manager, has first met with the person and obtained all of the following:

A criminal record check for the person. Character references in respect of the person. A record of the person's work history. Copies of any diplomas, certificates or other evidence of the person's training and skills. Evidence that the person has complied with the Province's immunization and tuberculosis control programs.

Note the sequencing. The meeting comes first, in person, and the documents are obtained before employment rather than after a probationary period.

Section 19 then adds a judgment requirement on top of the paperwork. The licensee must be satisfied, based on that information and on the manager's own observations from meeting the person, that the person is of good character, has the personality, ability and temperament necessary to work with children, and has the training, experience and demonstrated skills necessary for the duties assigned. Where an employee's duties include caring for a child who requires extra support, the regulation requires the licensee to ensure the employee has the training for that.

The provision most parents have never heard of

Section 20 is the one that changes how people think about a childcare building. A licensee must not permit a person over the age of 12 to be ordinarily present on the premises of a community care facility while children are present, unless the person is of good character and the licensee has obtained a criminal record check for that person.

That is not limited to staff. A regular volunteer, a student on placement, a contractor working on site during hours, an adult family member of the licensee who is around often, all of them are captured by "ordinarily present".

The regulation defines the exception carefully. A person is not ordinarily present if they are only picking up or dropping off a child and they are the child's parent, or a person designated in writing by the parent to do so. That is why an authorised pick-up list matters operationally: it is the mechanism that keeps a routine visitor inside the exemption.

If you want to see how the licence and inspection side of this fits together, our post on checking a daycare licence in Port Coquitlam walks through the lookup step by step, and the licensed child care in BC guide covers the wider framework.

Certification, and what the letters actually mean

Screening tells you who a person is. Certification tells you what they are trained to do, and those are separate systems.

Early childhood educator certificates in British Columbia are issued by the Province's ECE Registry. The Child Care Licensing Regulation refers to the director of the early childhood educator registry as the person responsible for issuing them, and lists the recognised training institutions in a schedule to the regulation.

There are three main certificate types. The ECE Five Year certificate allows a person to work alone or as the primary educator with children aged three to five, and alongside an Infant and Toddler educator in programs for children under 36 months. It is renewed every five years.

The ECE One Year certificate covers the same roles but exists for a person who has not yet completed the 500 hours of supervised work experience. It lets them work as a fully certified educator while finishing those hours, and is renewed within one year if the hours are not complete.

The ECE Assistant certificate is a different level. An assistant works alongside certified educators with children from birth to five, and qualifies by having completed at least one recognised early childhood education course in child guidance, child health and safety and nutrition, or child development, within the last five years.

The 500 hours requirement is set in the regulation itself. An applicant must provide proof of having completed, within the previous five years, at least 500 hours of work experience relevant to early childhood education, including a written reference from the educator who supervised that work stating that the supervisor is satisfied the applicant is competent. The regulation specifies what competence has to cover: child development, guidance, health and safety and nutrition; developing and implementing early childhood education curricula; and fostering positive relationships with children, their families and co-workers.

Two further specialisations sit on top of the Five Year certificate. The Infant and Toddler Educator certificate allows a person to work alone or as the primary educator with children from birth to five. The Special Needs Educator certificate allows the same in inclusive programs for children three to five. Both require the person to qualify for the Five Year certificate first, and both can be applied for at the same time.

Checking a facility for yourself

None of the above depends on a centre choosing to tell you. Fraser Health licenses child care across Fraser North, which includes Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, Burnaby, New Westminster, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, and it publishes what it finds.

Fraser Health's child care inspections page links to an online HealthSpace portal where reports are organised by community. It also publishes downloadable lists of licensed facilities by region. As part of every routine inspection a facility risk assessment tool is completed, rating the facility low, moderate or high risk.

Fraser Health attaches two cautions to its own data, and they are worth repeating. Reports are updated on an ongoing basis, but the health authority cannot confirm the information is accurate, complete or current at all times. And a parent should not judge a facility on the reports alone. Fraser Health recommends speaking with the facility manager, observing the program in operation, and contacting the assigned licensing officer.

Only substantiated complaints appear online. An investigation still under way, or an allegation that was not confirmed, will not be posted.

What the public record cannot tell you

A record check sets a floor. It confirms an absence of certain convictions. Whether an educator is warm with children, whether they notice a quiet child, and whether the team communicates well with families are all things you learn by visiting and watching.

That is the part you have to assess yourself, in the room, which is why an in-person visit still matters after all the paperwork checks out. Ask who is certified and at what level. Ask whether an Infant and Toddler educator is in the room if your child is under three. Ask how the centre covers an absence while keeping the required ratios.

Our own team, with each educator's background and the language programs they lead, is set out on the our team page. What no page can substitute for is standing in the room and watching how an adult speaks to a child who is upset.

Frequently asked questions

What does the law count as "working with children" for a record check?

The Criminal Records Review Act defines it as working with children directly, or having or potentially having unsupervised access to children, whether through employment, an occupation, an education program or volunteer work. The phrase "potentially having" is doing real work there, because it catches roles that are not hands-on care but could still leave an adult alone with a child.

What is the stated purpose of the Criminal Records Review Act?

Section 2 sets it out directly. The purposes are to help prevent the physical and sexual abuse of children, and the physical, sexual and financial abuse of vulnerable adults, by requiring criminal record checks. It is a screening law written around those specific harms rather than a general background check statute.

What is the difference between a relevant offence and a specified offence?

A relevant offence sits in a schedule to the Act and focuses on offences against children, including sexual offences and violent crime. A specified offence is the wider category, adding offences that matter for vulnerable adults, including financial crimes such as theft, fraud and forgery. Which list applies depends on the population the person will be working with.

Besides a record check, what else must a centre obtain before hiring?

Section 19 of the Child Care Licensing Regulation requires the licensee or manager to first meet with the person and obtain a criminal record check, character references, a record of work history, copies of any diplomas or certificates evidencing training and skills, and evidence that the person has complied with the Province's immunization and tuberculosis control programs.

Do visitors and contractors need a criminal record check too?

Section 20 says a licensee must not permit a person over the age of 12 to be ordinarily present on the premises while children are present unless that person is of good character and a criminal record check has been obtained. The regulation exempts a parent, or someone the parent has designated in writing, who is only picking up or dropping off a child.

Who issues early childhood educator certificates in British Columbia?

The Province's ECE Registry issues them. The Child Care Licensing Regulation refers to the director of the early childhood educator registry as the person responsible for issuing certificates, and lists the recognised training institutions in a schedule to the regulation.

What does the 500 hours of work experience requirement involve?

An applicant for an ECE certificate must provide proof of having completed at least 500 hours of work experience relevant to early childhood education within the previous five years, together with a written reference from the educator who supervised that work confirming the applicant's competence. The regulation sets out the specific areas that competence has to cover.

Can someone work in a licensed room while still completing those hours?

The ECE One Year certificate exists for that situation. It allows a person to work as a fully certified educator while completing the 500 hours of supervised work experience needed to qualify for the Five Year certificate. It has to be renewed within one year if the hours are not finished in that time.

How do I look up inspection reports for a specific facility?

Fraser Health publishes them online through its HealthSpace portal, which is linked from its child care inspections page and organised by community. Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam both fall in the Fraser North region. Fraser Health notes that reports are updated on an ongoing basis and cannot be confirmed accurate, complete or current at all times, and advises parents to also speak with the facility manager and observe the program.

What should I ask a centre directly about its staffing?

Ask who is certified and at what level, whether an Infant and Toddler educator is in the room if your child is under three, and how the centre covers an absence while keeping ratios. Those answers tell you about the room your child will actually be in, which the public record cannot show you on its own.

Before you visit

The paperwork side of this is public, and we would rather you checked it than took our word for it. What is left after that is the part you can only judge in person: how the room feels, how educators speak to children, and whether it suits your child. If you would like to see ours and ask about the team, contact us and we will arrange a time.