The main factor causing instability in childcare is job demands. Any change in job means a change in childcare, since there is no other parent available to help ease the change for the children. Julia cited that once she finally obtained a full-time job her only option was to work afternoon to evenings, 2pm-8pm. This conflicted with Jacqueline’s daycare hours that ended at 6pm. For this she was able to pay extra money and have an exception made for her with Sonia in order to allow her to work her job. However, since the public assistance ran out she was no longer able to afford the extended hours and had to quit her job.
While job demands may be the main cause of childcare instability it by far isn’t the only one. Many mothers had concerns with the care their children were receiving, or in Julia’s case, the providers not being reimbursed by the agency. Concern with care happened both with kin care and family childcare. Julia realized Jacqueline’s father wasn’t doing anything but was eased by the fact that it was only three days a week under his supervision. Her options for childcare were limited, especially before her full-time position. Kin care was not always reliable or anything more than temporary. Her best experience was with her sister who lived with her, but that ended once that sister needed to work more. One of the mothers, Beth Pierce relies on her 15 year old daughter with cerebal palsy to aid in care. Part of the afternoon the children are completely unsupervised due to no bridge childcare option.
As the text pointed out, Juia was only able to progress her job situation upward when she had reliable childcare. A sick kid can mean the end of a job, so it is very easy to become a vicious cycle between work and childcare instability. It’s not only the mothers who suffer, but the children as well. Speech delays are detected later, asthma isn’t always treated properly, and adequate attention to each child is limited in many cases.
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