Don’t cut funding for child care

Cutting funding for child care will only make things worse for Illinois families and our economy. My mom has been a child care provider for 17 years and I just started helping her.

The parents who use this program are seconds from losing their jobs. They can’t afford not to have day care. Without day care, they wouldn’t be able to work. They rely on us. They need somewhere safe to take their kids. They need someone with training and experience. These parents and their families would be devastated.

Keeping the child care program is very important to my family as well, because my dad lost his job when the economy crashed. We live off my mom’s income. If my mom lost her job, we would lose our home. My dad has been looking for work for three years, and I have been having trouble finding a job after graduating from college. We’ve already had to cut down a lot.

Cutting child care is going to cause so many people to keep losing their jobs, which will only cause the economy to get worse. Child care providers will be out of work, and working parents who rely on child care will be, too.

This program is one of the most important things in our state. Child care should be the last thing our legislators cut.

Martha O’Connell

Carpentersville