Click Here to See Clarissa's Story and More in CAP's 2010 Storybook: Voices of California's Families

My name is Clarissa Doutherd, the mother of a four year old Xavier, and I work as an accountant in Berkeley. Child care for my son is paid by Stage 3 of the CalWORKs program.

When my son was born in 2007, housing and child care was more than I could afford with my earnings from my housecleaning job, so I decided to apply for CalWORKs as I continued my job search. With help from the CalWORKs program, I signed up for two classes at San Francisco City College, got bus fare, and my school books – this all helped a lot. But actually I found that TANF money, Food Stamps, and WIC were not enough to keep us from starving after we moved into a tiny studio house in someone’s backyard.

After three or four months of looking, I landed a part-time job working as a Bookkeepers’ Assistant. My son was 4 months old. I worked 18 hours per week for $15.00 per hour. After six months, my pay was raised to $18 per hour and my hours increased to 30 per week. This is exactly how the system is supposed to work, and I stopped receiving cash aid.

I have worked with all my heart to get ahead for the past three and a half years. I am on the verge of succeeding. Losing the child care subsidy now would be a huge setback. I would probably have to quit my job, because I can’t afford both rent and child care on my salary. OR, I could possibly end up homeless, if I fall behind on my rent. An even worse thought, I might have to remove my son from the child care provider he has known all this time.

I know for an absolute fact that the goals I have set and achieved would not have at ALL been possible without this child care subsidy. I do not just have a job, I have a career and I believe this is possible for any parent who has access to child care assistance.

There are success stories. If corporations can receive tax breaks as an incentive to create jobs, it seems only fair that parents should have access to child care so they can keep their jobs.