We’re here (pt 3)
Of course there was no manager available to speak with, without me going back through the whole process from the beginning, which meant a new number and another wait. I could absolutely NOT. We finished with the questions and I was told I would get notification in the mail. Each number I called to complain about the actions of that worker, there was no answer and a voicemail that was completely full. Never got a hold of anyone. I eventually received the news that I qualified for ALL benefits. But that was only because I had zero income.
Once I got a (part time) job that all changed. I had to come in for them to recalculate my benefits. That was another day spent waiting, getting new numbers, going from floor to floor, answering questions that could have been relayed over the phone. They gave me paperwork that my babysitter needed to fill out in order to pay her. Then I needed to bring that paper back… another day spent waiting, getting new numbers, going floor to floor, etc. But then I lost that job. My babysitter was flaky. She would call me the morning of and tell me that she couldn't watch him that day because she had an appointment to go to. It happened about 3 times. That mixed with having to take off for Public Assistance appointments equals unemployed… again.
So now we are in our new place, I have 3 jobs that are all less than part time: I cater waiter 3 times a month while a friend who has 3 other kids offers to watch him and I can pay her in trays of food from the events. I teach dance at a public school once a week for an organization. I bring him in his stroller with a tray full of snacks and the high school kids love him. And I work for a dance shoe store as often as I can find a babysitter. And now I’m headed to the new Public Assistance office to reapply. The appointment takes less than 30 mins. I only got 1 number, met with 1 person, and she didn’t require me to fill out the booklet. Aside from the shame of being in there, the appointment went great. So I thought. I was notified that I make too much to get rent/bill assistance. And I technically don’t qualify for food stamps, but can apply for WIC (I thought they were the same thing, but apparently they are not.) But I do qualify for Daycare Assistance, meaning they would pay for the daycare fees for me as long as he went to a daycare within their network. After making another appointment to meet with the daycare assistance program, I was handed a list. A list of daycare in their network. And given two weeks to find a daycare and enroll my son. I would then need to come back after those 2 weeks to let them know which one I chose so they can process the paperwork to begin paying them. Another day of work gone, a 3 hour wait to be asked, “have you found a daycare?’ The answer is NO! No I have not. Because they are either full, don't exist anymore, or they don't take babies who are not potty trained.
Every time they proceed to give me another list of the same outcome. One day I happened to be talking about it with a friend and a lady overheard me and told me to go to AES Child Social Services and apply for daycare assistance. WHile I wasn't thrilled to be going to Child Social Services, I needed something because I after having to take a day off every 2 weeks for about 3 months, I was about to lose one of my jobs.
Now AES is a little different. They want to get their money back for helping you. So you must have a job. And if you are not receiving child support that you should be getting, they go after the absent parent to get their money. They also have different types of vouchers. State funded assistance for daycare or private funded assistance for daycare. The state funded list for assistance dated back (at the time) 8 years to the victims of 9/11 that still needed assistance. She gave me their list of privately funded daycares. After searching their list I finally found a place, and within a week, I was able to leave a job that was paying less for a job that was $100/month paying more. It all seemed like it was going to work out. But it came back to bite me in the ass. They informed me that now I make too much money to qualify for assistance. So it was now the same thing as with the food stamps.
It became impossible to get any assistance. And not that I expected them to give me full benefits. I didn’t need all that. But a transition would have been nice. Just help with food stamps and daycare assistance.
Let me break this down…
The average monthly cost for a single parent family with 1 child (11 years ago)
Rent (1 Bedroom) = $950
Food = $250 (and that's low balling it)
Baby Essentials= $350 (diapers, clothes, bottles, sippy cups, etc)
Electricity= $93
Cable/Internet/Phone= $99
Daycare (for a part-time job)= $550
Transportation (monthly metrocard)= $102
I could go on, but my point has been made.
Regulations for WIC/Food Stamps and even for AES daycare assistance, states that in order for a family household of 2 to get assistance, the monthly income cannot be more than $1200. Do you see what I listed up there?!?! And that’s not all of it. The most infuriating part was being told by numerous people who made more money that me or didn’t even have kids in this country, how they got FULL benefits. Food stamps, child care assistance, rent assistance ,etc. How was this possible?!? They knew how to work the system and started to share...