Supporting families with affordable childcare

As a young parent, I was faced with the choice of staying home to care for my young children or spend every dollar I made on childcare. It was, frankly, cheaper for me stay home and I did for nearly three years. During that time, we lived paycheck to paycheck.

I lost years in terms of career development and we sometimes relied on SNAP, WIC and Healthy Montana Kids to provide for our young family. I get it. Our economic system is not only not set up for working families, it often penalizes them. Affordable childcare options are not the only solution to supporting working families, but they would go a long way to helping Missoula’s young families stay afloat. Every child deserves quality, affordable care. Every parent deserves to know their children are in quality care. I support increased access to quality childcare and getting creative to find ways to fund it.