When my family started looking for childcare in Durham Region, I did what every parent does. I applied everywhere. Every centre within driving distance, every age group that might work, every list I could get my name on. I figured the more lists I was on, the better my chances.
Turns out I was part of the problem.
The math doesn't add up
Here's something most parents don't realize: when a region reports 5,000 families on childcare waitlists, that number is almost certainly fiction. It's not 5,000 unique families. It's the same families counted over and over, duplicated across multiple centre waitlists.
Systems like OneList — used in several Ontario regions — let you apply to multiple centres with a single form. That's genuinely convenient. But it also means that one family looking for one toddler spot might appear on five, six, or seven different waitlists simultaneously.
Multiply that across thousands of families and you get waitlist numbers that are wildly inflated. Centres think they have hundreds of families waiting. Municipal planners think demand is through the roof. But the real number of families actively searching right now, for a specific age group, in a specific area? It's a fraction of what the lists suggest.
The ghost chase
This inflated data doesn't just look bad on paper. It wastes everyone's time.
When a toddler spot opens up at a daycare, the director starts calling down their waitlist. Family one — already found care six months ago but never removed themselves from the list. Family two — was looking for infant care, not toddler. Family three — moved to Whitby. Family four — doesn't answer.
By the time the director reaches a family that's actually a fit, they've burned an afternoon on phone calls. Meanwhile, that open spot sat empty — costing the centre revenue, and keeping a real family waiting longer than they needed to.
It's not a supply problem. It's a routing problem.
Ontario has poured billions into expanding childcare, especially since the CWELCC program made $10/day care a reality. More spots are being created. But creating spots doesn't help if families can't find the ones that already exist.
Think about it this way: if you needed to see a doctor and the hospital told you "we have 200 people on the waitlist," you'd assume there was a doctor shortage. But what if 150 of those people already found a doctor, 30 were in the wrong department, and only 20 were actually waiting? You wouldn't need more doctors. You'd need a better intake system.
That's the childcare situation in Ontario right now. We don't need to just build more spots. We need to connect the right families to the right spots, right now.
What would actually help
Imagine a system that didn't just collect applications — it actively matched families to available spots. A system where a daycare director could say "I have a toddler spot opening next month" and instantly see three families in the area who need exactly that. No ghost chasing. No stale lists. No guessing.
That's why I built TinyMatch. Not to add families to more waitlists, but to get them off waitlists entirely by connecting them to real, available spots.
The goal isn't to be on seven lists. The goal is to be on zero — because you found care.
TinyMatch is a free childcare matching platform launching in Durham Region. If you're a parent searching for care or a childcare provider with spots to fill, visit tinymatch.ca to join.