Post 7

Chaudry addressed the story of Julia and her child Jacqueline struggle for child care. There were many factors that contributed to their instability for child care. Julia was on welfare when her daughter Jacqueline was born. Julia wanted to leave welfare however, some of the factors which added to the instability was the lack of funds. Also, Julia wanted to go to community college, so while she was in college the father of Jacqueline stayed at home and watched the children. When he left that caused an additional problem to her life. There were no child care arrangements therefore, Julia had to stay home to watch the children. She then was cut off of food stamps and when she started back to college she had to have her sister watch the children for a few months. Julia then was put to the bottom of the list for the "Agency for Child Development" for daycare. She soon had to stop going to college and had to be the primary care giver for her children. Julia was the primary caregiver for about a month and a half, according to the reading, and was then enrolled into the "Work Experience Program." This program helped with child care arrangements in which she found another child care provider. Julia ended up having to have her cousin watch her children then finally she received ACD. Based upon her story another factor that contributes to the instability of child care is having to find a provider and worrying about late payments from WEP.
According to the interviews and readings, working minimum wage jobs does not contribute much to childcare and safety. Working minimum wage jobs can force a family into unsafe environments such as what Jessica explained in her interview. Sometimes mothers sacrifice their hunger so that their children can eat. Mothers sometimes have no choice but to work more hours than usual just to make ends meet. When expenses and other bills are increasing mothers are still stuck at minimum wage which makes it harder to pay their bills.