My husband and I have five children aged 9, 7, 6, 3, and 6 months. While our older three attend school, our two youngest go to A Million Dreamz on a full-time basis, as we both work full time. Even with only two in daycare, we struggle every day to keep up with bills and food.
We have tried numerous times to apply for daycare assistance, but to no avail, we do not qualify. We made a financial decision, and I decided to take a pay cut and return to the daycare field. We hoped that with the reduction in income, we would qualify for state assistance.
However, even with the pay cut, we still exceed the income limit and do not qualify. In an attempt to alleviate daycare costs, we also applied for Head Start for our daughter, but there too, we exceed the income limit. We are at a crossroads and are considering the option of me quitting my job at A Million Dreamz.
The thought of quitting breaks my heart because I love taking care of these amazing kids and their families. Quitting my job at A Million Dreamz puts my family at risk of becoming homeless. With five kids, it is the scariest thought.
Every day brings more worry about not only our household bills, but also our daycare bill. We pay more for childcare each month than we do for the total costs of our home and all other bills. With the holidays approaching, we are struggling with the unknown as we were just able to afford costumes for Halloween.
We want our children to get the most out of life, but with all our money going toward bills and food, we simply lack the means to provide anything extra for our kids at this time. We have an amazing community. I know if we can all come together, we can come up with a solution to help not only families like mine but also all other families experiencing hardships due to daycare costs.
- SB
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