Jacqueline G.S. - Parent

Please share your childcare story.

“My husband and I leaned heavily on an ad-hoc system of care through family when I first went back to work after having my oldest daughter. Several months later, I quit my job to start my own company - but by forgoing my income, we had to forgo childcare as well, so I launched my company with my daughter in tow. A few months later, she was diagnosed with cancer and the plans we were putting together for outside care were again put on hold.

Her treatment successfully ended in March 2020, but she was still immunocompromised so we continued limping along until October 2020, at which point we created a tight knit home-based nanny share with another family we trusted. At 2 years old, that was the first formal outside care my daughter had ever had. She’s now three and I’m a wonderful preschool and we are facing a similar scenario for her baby sister.”

What would affordable, high-quality early education and child care mean for your family? What would be different if you had access to such a program?

“We are lucky in that we are able to afford the preschool we want led our daughter to attend. But having access to quality care as I was getting my business off the ground would have made days much easier for our whole family.”

What else should lawmakers and policymakers know about your childcare/early education needs, especially as we recover from the COVID-19 crisis?

“Having low staff:child ratios is going to be even more important than it has been. With additional health measures in care settings presumably here to stay, having staff that can oversee frequent hand washing and hygiene in addition to education is crucial. It also means that if a staff person has to call out sick, there’s no crisis of care.”