When Should You Join a Daycare Waitlist?

9 min read · Updated May 28, 2026

Join daycare waitlists as soon as you know you will need care. For most BC families, that means during pregnancy, ideally in the first trimester. UBC Child Care explicitly accepts applications with a due date instead of a birth date, and the Vancouver Society of Children's Centres accepts applications at birth. Their typical waits are 1 to 3 years; waiting until your child is born to start applying means starting the clock one year late.

This guide is the practical companion to how long are Vancouver daycare waitlists, which covers the data, and when to start looking for daycare in BC, which covers the broader timing question. This one focuses narrowly on the waitlist-joining decision: when, how many, and the exact mechanics that vary between providers.

What "as soon as possible" actually means

Every BC-specific source agrees: start during pregnancy if you can.

UBC Child Care: "If you have received a due date for the birth of your child, you are eligible to apply for the UBC Child Care waitlist and you do not need to wait until the child is born. When you complete the waitlist application, in the field labelled 'Birth date', you should indicate the due date provided by your physician" (UBC Child Care, How to apply).
Vancouver Society of Children's Centres: "Families can apply when their child is born" (VSOCC, Enrollment & Fees).
The MotherFlock, a Vancouver parenting blog: "Start early (yes, even if you're still pregnant). Many centres accept waitlist applications before baby arrives."

The reason this is urgent in Vancouver specifically: provider-published waitlists run 1 to 3 years at major centres, and 2 to 2.5 years for UBC's 12-to-36-month program. If your child needs care at 12 months and the wait is 2 years, applying when your child is 6 months old means a start date of 30 months, 18 months too late.

Provincial supply makes the math worse. BC has roughly 21 licensed daycare spaces per 100 children under 12, and Metro Vancouver sits at 25 per 100 (CBC News). The federal accessibility benchmark is 59 per 100. Demand outpaces supply by a factor of two or more, and the consequence is that the centres with the kind of programs most parents want, licensed, ECE-certified, $10-a-Day-participating, are the ones with the longest waits.

Which providers will accept a due date

The rule of thumb in BC: large non-profit centres usually accept a due date. For-profit centres are mixed. Family Child Care providers (home-based, small) sometimes do and sometimes do not, it depends on the licensee.

Confirmed providers that will accept due date applications:

UBC Child Care, explicitly, on the application form (UBC, How to apply).
VSOCC's 16 Vancouver sites, at birth, with applications accepted earlier in practice.
Most large multi-site non-profit operators in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond.

Smaller centres and home-based providers vary. When in doubt, ask. If the form requires a birth date, write the due date and add a note explaining it. Centres are familiar with this and almost always accept it.

If a centre refuses to take a pre-birth application, do not let that derail the strategy. Mark a calendar reminder for the day your baby is born to submit immediately. Apply to everyone who will accept earlier in the meantime.

How many lists to join

The locally-sourced recommendation is 15 to 20 facilities minimum in Metro Vancouver. That number is the project's synthesis from the Toronto benchmark ("10–20 is normal," East End Mom Friends) adjusted upward for Vancouver's tighter supply. The MotherFlock's frame is the most direct: "Get on every list you can find, that you would be willing to drive to."

This is a real number, not a hyperbolic one. Here is why it works:

Most lists are not first-come-first-served. Priority systems mean your position in the general queue is unpredictable. Being on more lists hedges against any one of them never getting to you. See how Vancouver daycare waitlists actually work for the priority breakdown.
Most openings happen in a 4-month window. Between May and September, providers cycle through their kindergarten-leavers. Outside that window, openings come with one month's notice. Being on more lists increases the chance of catching one of those one-month-notice spots.
Most application work is one-time. After the initial application, monthly follow-up is the maintenance cost. A spreadsheet handles 20 lists as easily as 5.

Geographic spread matters as much as count. The MotherFlock and the project's UX research both recommend mapping three radii: near home, near work, and along the commute. A facility you would only consider if it were close to home becomes plausible if it sits between your home and your workplace.

For the full search and shortlist process, see how to find daycare in BC. To start searching now, try Vancouver daycares, Burnaby daycares, or the BC-wide search filtered to your age band.

What it actually costs to join (almost nothing)

As of April 1, 2024, BC providers participating in the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (about 94% of licensed providers) are prohibited from charging waitlist fees (BC Gov News, 2024). The pre-2024 problem of paying $25 to $200 per list, one Vancouver parent reportedly spent over $5,000 across roughly 15 waitlists, is essentially over.

A handful of providers (mostly outside the CCFRI program) may still charge. If you encounter a fee, you are not obligated to pay it, and 94% of the licensed sector cannot ask you to. Apply to the no-fee 94% first.

The bottleneck for applying broadly now is your time and patience for forms, not your wallet.

What to submit at the application stage

A typical waitlist application asks for:

Parent name and contact information
Child's name and birth date (or due date)
Preferred start date
Age band requested (group infant, group toddler, group preschool, etc., see the types of BC daycare)
Any specific scheduling needs (full-time, part-time, days of the week)
Sibling status (other children at the centre)
Any priority-relevant information (employee status, neighbourhood proximity, returning family)

Be accurate about preferred start date. Centres use this to filter their lists when an opening comes up. Padding the start date in either direction does not move you up the list and can take you out of consideration for a real spot you would have wanted.

If you have a flexible start date (e.g., "anywhere from August to January"), say so. Centres often appreciate the flexibility and may reach out earlier than they would for a fixed-date applicant.

After you join: the maintenance cost

Joining the list is the easy part. Staying visible on it is what takes work.

Follow up monthly

The MotherFlock's locally-sourced cadence is monthly, with the explicit frame "it's not nagging; it's persistence." Other Canadian guides recommend every 3 to 4 months. For Vancouver supply, monthly is correct.

A monthly check-in should include:

Your child's name and current age (or due date if still pregnant)
Preferred start date
How long you have been on the list
Anything that has changed: walking, weaned, switched start date, sibling on the way, moved to a different neighbourhood

Do not ask for your position number. Most centres will not share one, and asking signals misunderstanding of how the list works. Confirm interest, share an update, sign off.

Track everything

A spreadsheet works. Note the facility, date applied, contact, the centre's preferred channel (email, online form, phone), when they said to follow up, and the dates of your follow-ups. When a centre calls you 14 months from now, you want to find your history fast and pick up the conversation where it left off.

Update them when life changes

Moving? Switching jobs? Sibling on the way? Changed your preferred start date? Tell every list you are on. Centres prefer applicants who keep them current. Stale applications get dropped quietly.

Show up in person when invited

Open houses, tours, StrongStart drop-ins, and library early-learning sessions are the in-person networks where home daycare providers and centre staff meet parents. Going to one is a way to be a face rather than a row in a database.

What about waitlists for $10-a-Day specifically

There is no centralised $10-a-Day waitlist. The province is explicit: "Waitlists are kept and managed by individual child care providers, so it is best to contact them directly" (BC Gov). You apply to each centre individually, and the $10-a-Day rate applies if and only if the spot you are offered is a $10-a-Day spot at a participating centre.

Some centres participate at only some of their sites or only in some age bands. The same centre can have a regular $1,800/month spot and a $10-a-Day spot in different rooms. When you apply, ask which specific spots are $10-a-Day spots and whether your application is for one of those. See what is $10-a-Day daycare for the full mechanics, and to filter your search to participating sites try $10-a-Day Vancouver sites.

Common mistakes

A few patterns that come up repeatedly:

Joining too few lists

Three or four lists is not a strategy in Vancouver. Aim for at least 15. The marginal cost of each additional application is low; the marginal benefit is meaningful.

Joining and then not following up

Centres assume parents who do not follow up have moved on. A list with no contact for six months is functionally not on the list. Monthly is the right cadence.

Waiting until the baby is born to apply

If your provider accepts due dates, use it. Even three months of additional list-tenure can matter at centres that use tenure as a tiebreaker.

Applying only near home

Mapping your search around home alone halves your candidate set, sometimes more. Add work and the commute between.

Being too specific about which kind of program you want

A 6-month-old does not need to be in a Reggio-Inspired bilingual centre with French as a second language. Apply broadly to programs in the right age band, evaluate fit when offers come in. The risk of applying broadly is that you might have to say no to a program that does not suit. The risk of being too selective up front is that you have no offers at all.

The bottom line

The right time to join a daycare waitlist in BC is yesterday. Failing that, today. If you are pregnant, apply now to every provider who will accept a due date; mark a reminder for birth day to apply to the rest. If your child is already born, apply to 15 to 20 facilities this week. The applications are free, the maintenance cost is one follow-up email per centre per month, and starting earlier is the single most reliable predictor of having an offer when you need one.

For the data behind these waitlists, see how long are Vancouver daycare waitlists. For the broader strategy, see how to find daycare in BC.