Your Stories
These are the stories Coloradans are sharing about how child care is impacting their lives. See how affordable, quality child care helps communities thrive. See how the absence of that care hurts all of us.
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Nancy, mother of three
Child care has impacted me in my workplace. It's so expensive to have my children in child care that I had to go back to working an overnight job. I can't afford to pay for my children to be taken care of, even though my children are at a age where the majority of the time they are in school. It gets hard though when they don't have school or when they are on break and have other days off, ...
KH
I had my third child this year 9 years apart from middle child. I haven’t even thought about day care in years. My other two are older middle school and 9 years old. It’s has been very hard not having a job while I take care of the new born and now having to find a job while als looking for a day care that is not going to take my whole pay check.
Olivia Tipton, parent of 1
We are a military family, and our son is an only child. He has been diagnosed with Sensory Regulation Disorder and a speech delay. Before CPCD, I was a stay-at-home mom who put her life on hold to fully dedicate my time to him. Finances were tight, and it didn’t make sense to work only to pay for daycare—but it was still a struggle. I’m not an educator, and adding “teacher” to the roles of ...
Nicole, parent of two
As a mom of two, childcare has shaped almost every part of my life. I’ll never forget the year when my husband was suddenly assigned weekend shifts, and I was working full-time on weekdays. Without reliable childcare, even simple things—like scheduling doctor appointments, attending parent-teacher meetings, or just catching a breath—became overwhelming. I remember once turning down a job ...
Amber Parent of 2
My family and I were homeless from October 2021 to July 2023. At one point, we had been staying at several hotels. I had been given resources for cpcd, and I had contacted them they actually came to the hotel we were staying at and helped me with the paperwork. we got approved. both of my kids had been going to cpcd since 2022. It has been a blessing. Knowing that my kids are safe and warm, ...
Racquel, parent of 4
Childcare has been extremely hard to get for my little ones. I am a mom of a 5 year old, 4 year old, 1 year old and 3 month old. I have to miss school often because of lack of childcare and my 4 year old son who was 3 when he started preschool initially was only able to go because of a speech delay. I try to do deliveries of extra money but often can’t do that because I would have to take my ...
Anne, parent of one
I had my child in November of 2019 and by the time I needed to go back to work, I was unable to find affordable childcare that made sense paying for with my current salary. I had been looking for care throughout my pregnancy. I was about to quit my job but my employer offered for me to come back in February 2020 with the flexibility to work some from home while I continued searching for ...
ES Early Childhood Educator
I have been in the Early Childhood Education field for most of my adult life, and during that time I have seen both positive and negative impacts on my community. Recently, what has bothered me most is the lack of funding available to families who need help paying for childcare.
A few weeks ago, a parent whose child attends our center came in almost in tears because their renewal for ...
Anonymous
People can’t afford to have kids. My daughter said, "We really want another one, but I don’t know that it’s doable." And it’s heartbreaking. I would love to say "We have everything paid off. I can retire and take care of my grandchildren." I would love nothing more. My mom didn’t work when my nieces and nephews were born, so she took care of them. I would love nothing more than to take care ...
D. Flores, parent of three
My Family Advocate. Maria at Head Start has helped a lot when it comes to affording diapers and wipes, and ensuring my child care is top notch. I wouldn’t want to take my kids any other place that didn’t work with head start. I have a few different representatives that help me with different things like diapers or other resources. Ms. Audrey is the only sitter I have/ trust. We don’t have ...
RL-Parent of 5 previous HS participants
I first heard of Head Start when my now 31 year old son was 4 years old. I had extreme concerns for him as he was unable to speak clearly and was often frustrated. This, coupled with not having any other children in his life to play with and learn from, was also a major concern. After enrolling him in Head Start, it was discovered that he had a severe speech impediment. They began speech ...
Kris, parent of one
I work remote and it took nearly a year to find a consistent childcare provider. We had several people ghost us or provide poor care despite them stating they had many years of childcare service.We cannot afford a lot, like many others, but provided slightly over CO minimum wage and would compensate above and beyond for additional hours needed last minute.We tried contacting some local ...
Offstage Mama of Three
There’s a whole part of me that people don’t really see anymore. I used to spend my evenings in rehearsals, singing in choirs, and getting lost in community theatre. Harmonizing with other people was one of the few places where I felt completely like myself.
Once I became a mom, all of that stopped. Not because I wanted it to, but because there’s almost no evening or night child care. And ...
MDP, mom of soon to be 2
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 ...
Stephanie – Parent of two
When I first had Estella I started doing daycare in the rural area I was living in at the time since it seemed to be a big need. It was wonderful for us because then I could provide for us while still getting to be there for the big moments. Once I did get her into daycare and start working, I started to feel like I was missing out. I loved going back to work but didn’t want to leave my ...
Alexis McCaffery Mom of 2
Not having childcare really impacts the quality of life I want to give to my kids. Without childcare I can’t help support the family, nor can I try to achieve long standing goals like going back to school to pursue a higher education. And by not being able to achieve the goals I can’t better my life or my kids life.
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