Julia faces many challenges while trying to find stable child care for her young daughter Jacqueline. These are challenges that millions of others are trying to overcome as well. After the birth of Jacqueline, Julia had the right mindset: go back to school, make something of herself, and support her family. Unfortunately, she was faced with one obstacle after another and ended up dropping out of school. Jacqueline’s father was able to watch the two young girls while Julia went to school, but after the two broke up and the father moved out Julia had lost her child care. Next, Julia’s sister, Izzy, moved in with her and for a while this was an ideal situation. Julia was able to still go to school while her sister watched the girls. With no money coming in and mouths that needed to be feed both girls started working at a Burger Shop. This situation did not help Julia out. Now that Izzy was working she could not watch the kids and Julia could not work because she had the kids and because if she worked too many hours she would lose her Public Assistance. Not only did Julia lose her child care provider, but she also had to drop out of school.
Julia was finally able to get into the Welfare to Work Program (WEP). Julia started to work internships in the hopes of finding full time employment. One of the benefits of the WEP program was child care subsidies. One might think that this would make all of Julia’s problems disappear, but it just added to them. Julia lost jobs and missed work because her child care checks would come late or come in the wrong amount of money (Putting Children First, pg 88). Julia was forced to go down to the offices to talk with her caseworker on numerous occasions to fix the problem. By then it was too late and Julia was in search of someone else to watch Jacqueline.
The factors that contributed to Julia’s inability to find stable child care were not the only issues she had to overcome. It seems to me that as women do start to do better that they are held down more. For instance, once Julia started to make a little bit more money she was required to pay more money. Julia started to make just over $8.00 an hour and lost all public assistance, which did not bother her, but she still needed the food stamps to feed her family. With Julia having to pay for food on her own she could not afford child care. Jessica from the “7days at Minimum Wage” video is in the same boat. She makes barely over minimum wage and cannot afford to buy her kids any nice things. Jessica does not have to worry about child care expenses anymore, but due to the neighborhood she lives in her kids are not able to play outside. It is a vicious cycle that needs to be fixed.
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The issue of losing public assistance because of wages is a negative consequence that many cause some women to refuse to further their careers and ultimately keep them on poverty. Sometimes, it seems as if the system sets many up to fail.
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