Skip to main content

Stories

Like most Americans, I do not have paid family leave. I went into labor with my son when I was at work, almost two months before his due date. My son was born at 33 weeks, by emergency C-section, and spent a month in the NICU. I used all of my vacation and sick time to be with him daily. When that...Read more
Jonna Ashley, Denver
My husband was recently laid-off his primary job. He does have a second part-time job that he could work more hours at, however, because of the cost of childcare, it would actually be BETTER financially for us for him to stay home and collect unemployment. If he tried to work more hours at his part...Read more
Anonymous
Affordable part-time childcare/preschool through our local Park and Recreation Department is making it possible for me to help run our family business. I would be out of the workforce entirely, and our business would be suffering, were it not for this great community resource. There are very few...Read more
Anonymous
in 2008 i was fired from nordstrom along with at least 6 other employees...i spent all of 2009 appealing my case to get my unemployment benifits, working small jobs that i found, taking my son to long beach community college preschool and taking care of my husband on disability... i started...Read more
Anonymous
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
I found a great family day care provider near my house, but it costs a quarter of my monthly income (and a quarter of my wife's income) in order to afford her great services. And she's one of the cheapest options we found in the area!Read more
Anonymous
I was lucky enough to be able to stay home for the first year of my daughter's life, but as her first birthday approached I knew it was financially time to get started again. The daycares in my area were all acceptable, but most were warehouse type "kindercare" places. I wanted a more personal and...Read more
Michelle
I was coming back from maternity leave in a couple of weeks and work and myself already had arrangements for me to work three days a week and work from home or bring the baby to work two days a week until I could secure full time daycare in about one to two months. In our town, there is only one...Read more
Anonymous
I work at a university. The day care my son was in last year was recommended by this university. This is the type of service we got: * all the kids' noses were always runny, whenever I came in -- my son had a cold all year; * the place smelled like urine * there was sometimes a different teacher...Read more
Ksenija
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

Pages