Your Stories

I would like to let you all know that the CPCD Head Start program is a wonderful program to be part of. They have truly helped ease many of my worries. I genuinely love this program. I appreciate the open communication I have with the teachers. If there is ever a concern, it is always addressed promptly and appropriately. I also value that this is a free program, especially knowing how ...

Searching for childcare was so overwhelming and disheartening, especially as a first time mom who was already struggling with emotions. I didn't want to be separated from my baby but there was no way I could make being a stay home mom possible. I looked into numerous centers and the prices were more than my mortgage! I then starting combing licensed and unlicensed (it took me a lot of ...

So back in October my husband had a joking a seizure and was in the hospital for a week we've been loaded with bills from the hospital then he landed up back in the hospital and November for a couple of days for blood transplants and we've been really struggling with how to get Christmas so I asked my youngest daughter's teacher to see if they had any programs that might help me and they ...

It has affected our lives positively because I can spend some time with my youngest child while the others are in school. I have also been able to get grocery shopping done and getting to doctor's appointments for myself. It's nice knowing that he is at school learning and being taken care of.

Due to childcare expenses, my family has had to rely on one parent staying home. Even when options for head start became available, the hours or days did not align with regular schedule hours of work. Therefore, I have been unable to pursue my own career goals until all of my children were in school. Even then, because after school is expensive, I have only been able to attend school myself. ...

Working with families I hear a lot of stories about feeling helpless about not knowing where to turn for help and resources. When I talk with them and share our Community Resource Handbook info with them, they feel hopeful and are so appreciative that someone took the time to listen and gave them a warm hand off into the right direction. When the crying you hear on the phone turns into thank ...

Childcare has helped me by providing me time to get things done while the kids are at school or childcare. For example, I run errands and do what is needed while they are being taken care of.

When our kids were little we used a nanny we found through Care.com. Honestly, it was scary. You’re dropping your kids off at someone’s house with very little ability to verify anything. Other kids, big dogs — you just hope your kids are safe when you pick them up. But you have to go to work. You’ve got to put food on the table. You’re choosing between two bad options. We didn't have family ...

I decided to leave a career I loved to help care for my grandchildren. I did this primarily for the incredible opportunity to spend this precious time with my grandbabies, but also because my daughter's childcare experience was so disastrous and the cost so astronomical. My daughter is a psychologist and can afford private daycare, but after a different child's diaper was put on her baby and ...

I always heard the saying “it takes a village,” but when I became a parent, I truly understood how much everything falls on you when that village is missing. Without childcare, I felt overwhelmed, overstimulated, and consumed by daily responsibilities, with no time for myself, my spouse, or even a quiet meal. While being with my children full-time is a blessing, the lack of personal time ...

I live just south of Colorado Springs in an area called Security-Widefield in unincorporated El Paso county. We are very near Fort Carson but are non-service members/non-veterans. I had a premature baby in April of 2025. He was 10 weeks early and we had not yet gotten on any childcare waitlists yet though we knew we wee behind. I started having high risk issues and was struggling to go to ...

This family has been part of CPCD since 2023. They are an immigrant family who came to this country with one goal in mind to give their children a better life. Since arriving, they have faced constant financial challenges. They have lived in shelters and in subsidized housing, only to be forced to leave when they fell behind on rent. Stability has been hard to find.Throughout these years, ...

The lack of child care makes an impact in single family households or households where both parents must work to survive. In my household, we both must work so we can have basic needs and if we didn't have child care we would not be able to do that efficiently.

Childcare has made a huge difference in my life by taking a tremendous amount of stress off my shoulders. Before childcare, I worried every day about my mom watching my son. Because of her age, it was difficult for her to keep up with how energetic he is, yet she watched him five days a week for eight hours a day so I could work and provide for us. Having access to childcare has lifted a ...