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Early Learning and Child Plan and Resources

Early Learning and Child Plan and Resources

Early learning and child care in Halton

Early learning and child care plays an important role in the lives of children, families, educators, and communities across Halton.

As Halton continues to grow, so does the need for an early learning and child care system that is affordable, accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the changing needs of families and operators across the community.

Halton Region’s Early Learning and Child Care Plan: 2026-2030 outlines how the Region will work with families, child care operators, educators, schools, community organizations, and other levels of government to help strengthen the system over the next five years.

For more information download the full plan:

Early Learning and Child Care Plan: 2026–2030 (PDF file)

Our role in child care

Halton Region is the designated Service System Manager for early learning and child care in Halton.

The Region works closely with licensed child care operators, educators, school boards, community organizations, and government partners to help plan and support a coordinated child care system across Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.

This includes:

  • Administering provincial and federal child care funding locally
  • Supporting fee subsidy programs for eligible families
  • Planning for future child care growth and service needs
  • Supporting workforce and quality initiatives
  • Coordinating services and supports for children and families

Working with our community

Halton’s Early Learning and Child Care Plan: 2026-2030 was informed by extensive engagement with families, educators, child care operators, school boards, Indigenous community members, service providers, and community organizations across Halton.

This input helped identify the opportunities, pressures, and priorities currently shaping early learning and child care across the community.

Families, educators, and child care operators continue to identify several key challenges across the sector, including:

  • Rising costs and affordability pressures for families
  • Growing demand for child care spaces
  • Workforce recruitment and retention challenges
  • Increasing need for inclusive and responsive supports
  • Ongoing pressures created by rapid population growth across Halton

These challenges continue to impact families, child care operators, and the broader child care system across our Halton community and build the foundation for our priorities.

Our priorities

Supporting affordable child care

Through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system and child care fee subsidies, many families in Halton are paying lower child care fees than in previous years.

Halton Region will continue working with government partners and local child care operators to support affordability and advocate for funding that reflects the needs of our growing Halton community.

Expanding access to child care

Demand for child care spaces continues to increase across Halton, particularly in rapidly growing areas.

Over the next five years, Halton Region will continue working with child care operators, school boards, local municipalities, and government partners to improve access to early learning and child care where it is needed most.

Supporting early childhood educators and the workforce

Early childhood educators and child care professionals are the foundation of high-quality early learning and child care.

Halton Region will continue supporting workforce attraction, retention, professional learning, and leadership development initiatives across the sector in collaboration with community partners.

Strengthening inclusive child care

Families and providers continue to identify the need for stronger inclusive supports across the early learning and child care system.

Halton Region will continue working with community partners to strengthen inclusive practices and improve access to supports for children with diverse developmental, behavioural, medical, and neurodivergent needs.

Building a more connected system

Children and families benefit most when services are connected, coordinated, and easier to navigate.

Halton Region will continue working with schools, EarlyON programs, health services, developmental services, and community organizations to strengthen collaboration and improve the experience of families accessing services across our Halton community.

Looking ahead

Halton Region’s Early Learning and Child Care Plan: 2026–2030 (PDF file) focuses on building a child care system that is:

  • More affordable
  • More accessible
  • More inclusive
  • High-quality and responsive
  • Supported by a strong and stable workforce
  • Sustainable for the future

As Halton continues to grow, the Region will continue working collaboratively with families, educators, child care operators, community organizations, and government partners to help strengthen early learning and child care across the community.

Halton Region Directed Growth Plan

An appendix to the Early Learning and Child Care Service Plan (2024 – 2026)

As a condition of CWELCC participation, the Region is required to develop a Directed Growth Plan for Halton. This plan is legislated by the Province and is used to guide how and where new CWELCC spaces the Province allocates to the Region through to 2026.

Halton’s Directed Growth Plan: An Appendix to the Early Learning and Child Care Service Plan (2024 – 2026) (PDF File) is an extension of Halton’s 2022-2025 Early Learning and Child Care Plan. It includes priorities for enrolment and expansion of affordable childcare spaces in CWELCC, including priority neighbourhoods and priorities for childcare under the Ministry of Education’s Access and Inclusion Framework and CWELCC Guidelines.

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