Single Mom’s Day Care Dilemma

Debra Harris, a single mother, used to drop her kids at Pumpkin Patch Child Development Center in working-class Avenel every morning at 7 in a weathered Ford Escort. She popped buttered bagels in the center’s microwave for their breakfasts before heading to Jersey City, where she was a school occupational therapist.

A bus took Whitney, 9, and Frankie, 7, to school and brought them back at day’s end to Pumpkin Patch, which they complained was cramped and a bit boring. Their mother considered it the safest and best care she could afford.

This summer, though, Whitney and Frankie’s needs would have grown from before- and after-school care (total: $440 a month) to full-day care at Pumpkin Patch’s camp (total: $1,400 a month). Harris recently went back over the math, incredulous at the results.

“I can make $25 an hour on a per-diem basis,” she said. “If I work 40 hours a week, that’s $4,000 a month, $3,200 after taxes. If I take out $1,400 for my mortgage and $1,400 for full-time day care, that leaves $400--$100 a week to buy food and gas, pay bills, go to the shore on the weekend. This is crazy!”

So Harris decided to quit her job for the summer, find part-time work and draw down her savings.

At 30, Harris prides herself on providing for her children “without ever using the welfare system, thank god,” despite difficulties that include an ex-husband who is more than $6,000 behind in child support, according to her records.

Child care was easier when she was married, and not just because of her husband’s paycheck, Harris said. Early in their marriage, they were stationed in Germany with the Air Force and had access to German-subsidized child care. They paid $40 a month per child for full-time care in a stately 19th century building within walking distance of their home.

“I find it really discouraging that my own government says I shouldn’t need help with child care,” Harris said. “Now is when I really need some help.”