More than a hundred families are trying to find new spaces for their children after the abrupt closure of an Ajax daycare in two weeks.
Happy Kids Child Care, which is based near Church Street North and Delaney Drive, has been given until August 31 to leave the property after the landlord failed to extend its lease.
Many of the parents of children attending the daycare who were interviewed by CP24.com expressed their displeasure at the short notice of the closure.
After waiting for spaces at several daycares, Chantelle Browne and her boyfriend Jhsi Lewis recently got their son into Happy Kids. They claim that their child has had a “wonderful” three months at the center.
Browne says her child lights up when he sees the front of the building. It’s her son’s first daycare, and that’s why she and her partner are devastated that it is shutting down at the end of the month.
“(We’re) quite shocked,” Browne said. “The past three months have been like so easy, knowing that our son is going there, that he’s in good hands. And the staff are always so pleasant. You are just like rest assured that your kid is gonna be there and that they’re gonna communicate with you if anything’s going on.”
“We don’t want to start over.”
But unfortunately, it appears that they will have to.
“This one really captured us. So to have to let that go and find somewhere else and transition our son there in under two weeks, it’s impossible,” Browne said.
Lewis adds it is significantly harder to find a new provider right before September, when school starts. They say they have started to inquire at other places, but many are already full and only have available slots for 2023.
Source_ cp24.com
