One of the challenges many of our ladies in the Better Together program face, is maintaining stable employment. Safe, sustainable childcare, in addition to the continued protocols surrounding the Covid19 virus, can create nearly impossible circumstances for a single parent trying to keep a job. Allow me to present a very common scenario. Imagine you get a job at a grocery store and finally find competent, affordable daycare. Your children begin to attend daycare and you begin your job. About a week in, you get a call from daycare stating one of your children is showing symptoms of Covid19. You have to leave work and they cannot return until you have proof of a negative test. This results in you missing 3 days of work, assuming the child tests negative. Then the next week your other child catches what your first child had and the same scenario plays out with missing another 3 days of work. By this time you have proved to your employer that you cannot be dependable in your attendance, all for reasons out of your control. As a result, you lose your job and are back at square one. We have also witnessed, and even experienced personally as ICM staff, situations where daycares unexpectedly close down for weeks at a time due to staff shortage. If you have no stable support system that is available to help provide childcare at the drop of the hat, you again end up missing a lot of work.
I share these scenarios to highlight the complexity of childcare at this time. This is a reality for many families, but the repercussions for a single parent with no support system and no financial safety net, often creates a vicious cycle where establishing both sustainable childcare and employment is nearly impossible. Still, despite these barriers, almost all of our moms in our Better Together program have been able to establish and maintain employment over the last month. When we started this Better Together group, only one of the moms had steady employment. The fact that now almost all of these amazing ladies do have a job, speaks to their resilience and determination. We are honored to continue to walk alongside each of them and are challenged by their refusal to give up, even in the face of such significant barriers! We hope you join us in celebrating their success as well as praying that barriers continue to be removed for those we serve and all marginalized families in our communities!
Praises and Prayer Requests
1. Ask God to allow us (the body of Christ) to be more aware of the barriers faced by marginalized individuals and families in our communities and be moved to act in ways that tear down those barriers.
2. Thank God for resilience and determination demonstrated in the lives of our Better Together moms!
3. Pray for our Adoptions staff as they continue to work with children and families participating in the adoption process.
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