Heather Clark has juggled working full-time at an insurance agency and caring for her young daughter for the past five years.
“When you have a kid at home, you can’t answer the phones, and you can’t have that personal interaction,” said Clark, who often works from home. “And my job requires that.”
In July, Clark became one of the first of 28 parents to join West Virginia’s new pilot program that subsidizes child care by allowing employers and the state to cover some of the costs.
But the program is small compared to the size of West Virginia’s child care crisis, and it won’t survive if lawmakers don’t step up with more money.
Clark is now saving $80 a week on three days of child care for her five-year-old daughter, Gabby.
