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The cost of childcare is an enormous burden to my family. Both parents have to work but the cost of childcare ($13,000 for childcare/preschool and $3,000 for aftercare) has meant that we have fallen deeper and deeper into debt. For the past year I have been unemployed, so even though my daughter...Read more
Jennifer
Emma is my 5-year-old. She was born weighing 1lb 3oz and was 11in long. She spent her first 4 months of life in the NICU. When she was born I was not given very much hope for her future. She has worked hard from the day she was born to prove the doctors wrong. Emma entered ECEAP [Early Childhood...Read more
Daree, Spokane Valley, WA
I am a mother of two toddlers and my story is about how difficult a time I had finding affordable care for my children. When I left to go on maternity leave from my job as a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration, I never imagined not being able to return. Unfortunately, the cost of...Read more
Rachel, Washington
I am a single mother of young children and I am in law school with a degree from UW. But three years ago, a single set back destabilized my entire family. A single, and rare, support payment from the father of my children temporarily put me over the income limit for my childcare subsidy. Overnight...Read more
Angelica, Seattle, WA
When my second child was born, my husband had saved up vacation time to take some time off to help out at home and get to know his new daughter. Instead, things got busy at work and his company required him to work overtime. I had postpartum depression and this made for a very difficult situation...Read more
Anonymous, Wisconsin
The Children's School in Seattle has been at the forefront of providing quality and affordable preschool education for over 50 years. This not-for-profit school has been fortunate to maintain quality teacher, a low teacher-student ratio, low turnover rate but is still struggles to recruit quality...Read more
June, Washington
I want to share a quick story. I started my federal career in November of 2005 as a federal contractor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I had 2 little ones when I started working and during my time working at CDC I conceived another child and had a son. My cost for childcare for...Read more
LaShea
In my area, affordable childcare does not exist. There is expensive childcare that is not high quality, and there is high quality childcare that is not affordable. I have been working as a teacher, and I quickly learned that the teachers I work with have family members who take care of their...Read more
Kathleen
I shopped around quite a bit while I was pregnant with my first child and right after he was born. I checked online mommy groups for advice and drove around my neighborhood. The places I found were not very nice and the biggest red flag was that the kids did not seem happy at most of the places...Read more
Dawn
We live in Marin County and childcare here costs atleast $15 per hour for a babysitter. Of course you can find lower, but they usually don't speak English. I don't make much more per hour than they do so it was pointless for me to work and just hand my earnings over to the babysitter. Instead we...Read more
Anonymous

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