From: ssmith@xocolatl.com (Shannon Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.child-support
Subject: Help.
Date: Sat, 05 Sep 92 18:17:52 PDT
Reply-To: ssmith@xocolatl.com
Distribution: world
Organization: Amethyst Systems, Fremont, CA

Yep, I'm a welfare mommy.  But contrary to the stereotypes many
people hold, I do not want to be there forever.  I am enrolled at the
local community college in a Marketing/Accounting/Business
Administration program.  At the end of my proposed studies I will
have AAs in Marketing and Business Administration, and will be set to
transfer to any Cal State or UofCal 4-year accounting program.

Despite my concerns about having forgotten everything I know in the
many (10+) years since I was last in school I am doing well, and no
longer forsee any academic difficulties in my program.  Actually, I
am having a much easier time of it than I did when I was a teenager. 
I am taking 17.5 units this semester, including accounting, finite
mathematics, purchasing & materials management, California history,
and a couple of lightweight general ed. classes.

But I might end up dropping out.

I cannot take the kids to class with me.  They are ages 2.75 years
and 17 months.  I cannot afford to put them in daycare.  I have been
on all the waiting lists I can find for subsidized care since the
beginning of the year.  I might hear something next year or the year
after.  Nevertheless, I check with each one every couple of months.

Recently I discovered something called the NET program.  I applied
and was accepted.  They will help with day care.  However, they will
only pay for the time I am physically in class, and for transit time
to/from day care.  I have a 2.5 hour break in the middle of the day
on MWF, and they expect me to leave campus, pick up the kids, take
care of them for an hour, take them back to day care, etc.  There is
*NO* allowance for study time.  That is a very large shortcoming in
the program.  What am I supposed to do with two toddlers so that I
can study?

But that's not the real problem.  The real problem is that it is a
reimbursement program.  I pay for the month, send them their paper
work, and they reimburse.  Problem is, I just now find out, that they
reimburse 20 days after they receive the paperwork.

This means, in essence, that I have to come up with TWO months of day
care in advance.  And the good Gov. Wilson has just reduced my AFDC
by about $40/month.  I don't need the accounting degree to know that
I simply do not have the resources to come up with another
$800-$1000.  I scraped and finessed to come up with the one month in
advance.  There is no further source I can tap for the second.

Does anyone here know of *ANYTHING* out there that can help me?  We
hear all the kind suggestions that AFDC types go to school to better
themselves, but it is simply not possible without child care.

If there are any funding sources, programs, or ideas that I have not
come up with, please PLEASE tell me.  I really don't want to bring up
my kids in AFDC poverty, and I am not willing to breed a bunch more
kids in order to up the AFDC check. (okay, sarcasm mode that was
invoked for the last sentence is now off)

---
Shannon Smith                     ssmith@xocolatl.com
Newsgroups: alt.child-support,soc.men,soc.women,misc.kids,alt.dads-rights