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I have a bad child suport situation. The basic support accounts for 25% of my income for one child which I can live with but the daycare cost ($800)added on top pushes the support to 45% of my income. Its destroyed me financially and I am close to bankrupcy. My child is 2yrs old, at what age does children stop needing daycare?
It's going to be for a long time. The good news: the costs should go down with time. It may vary by state, but usually childcare is more expensive for children under 2 because the required child:adult ratio is so low, but that ratio changes as they grow older. And, of course, once they hit school-age you won't need nearly as many hours of daycare, and usually daycare for elementary-aged kids is cheaper than it is for the infant/preschool set.
You need it pretty much through elementary school - depending on the child and other factors as long as you don't have family care or something else. Once a child is in preschool or kindergarten there isn't as much daycare.
If you have family members, you can lower the costs, or if you can work out a deal where one parent works and the other tends the child and then they switch, that can eliminate day care and the costs.
Childcare is usually until your child attends school (4-5). Depending on what your ex may do. If your child goes to school (pray its not private) then she may choose afterschool (fee depending). If your ex is really a prude.... she will sign your child up for every extra curriculum activity known on earth. Why??? Because again, YOU will have to pay for it. (My best friend does this). You only have 16 more years to go... and if they stay in school til 21 you still have to fork it over. (All my info is based on my state so check locally)
Childcare is usually until your child attends school (4-5). Depending on what your ex may do. If your child goes to school (pray its not private) then she may choose afterschool (fee depending). If your ex is really a prude.... she will sign your child up for every extra curriculum activity known on earth. Why??? Because again, YOU will have to pay for it. (My best friend does this). You only have 16 more years to go... and if they stay in school til 21 you still have to fork it over. (All my info is based on my state so check locally)
I'm not sure what you are basing this on.
If it's not spelled out in the court order, there's no way to force someone to pay for private school, extra-curricular activities, and so on. I wish! My ex promised to keep helping with our son's private school. I was bearing the larger portion of it and working there to get tuition credit but he had really been VERY gung-ho about this school and promised to continue to help so our son could stay there. Didn't happen and there was nothing I could do about it since it wasn't part of the original child support order. Ended up having to pull him from his school.
My mom tried many times to get my dad to help (notice I said "help", not cover) some extra-curricular stuff for me, or extra things like a prom dress, etc. Nothing extreme, mind you. He told her "that's what child support is for" and refused. Nothing she could do about that either.
To the OP; obviously there is a need for day care as long as the other parent is working and the child is not school aged. Depending on where you live (or where the child lives, actually), this can be as early as age 4 or as late as age 6 since some places have public pre-k programs and some only offer half-day kinder with the parent having to use child care for the other half of the day. Once the child is in school, there will most likely be after-school care, assuming your ex works during the day. There are often low-cost options though, provided in the school itself. If it is a quality program, you might see about trying to have more say as to what facility she uses for afterschool care, when the time comes, so she doesn't just go with the most expensive "just because".
Has your financial situation changed since this was ordered? If so, have you requested a modification of the order to lower the costs (or your share of them anyway)?
dont whine its the price of parent hood married parents pay it to ..
you can get a better job or a second one to pay this OR depending on your work hours YOU do the day care
wondering when it stops tho .. forget it you have at least 3 more yrs of full time care to cover unless you can work out shared care with the ex
I have a bad child suport situation. The basic support accounts for 25% of my income for one child which I can live with but the daycare cost ($800)added on top pushes the support to 45% of my income. Its destroyed me financially and I am close to bankrupcy. My child is 2yrs old, at what age does children stop needing daycare?
I'm not sure what all your numbers mean, but if your ex is the one with the money, and you are the one paying for daycare, maybe you need to go back to court and ask for more money each month. Or, if you are a single parent and make little enough $ you might qualify for state subsidized day care. check with social services. I think a child needs after school care through elementary school, but I'm not there yet. I know my niece and nephew still go, and they are 9 and 10.
I have a bad child suport situation. The basic support accounts for 25% of my income for one child which I can live with but the daycare cost ($800)added on top pushes the support to 45% of my income. Its destroyed me financially and I am close to bankrupcy. My child is 2yrs old, at what age does children stop needing daycare?
Would you leave a 2 year old home alone while his parent goes to work? A child needs daycare until he is old enough to care for himself while his parents are at work. Usually full time day care is required until a child starts regular school at age 5 or 6.
At that age day care costs are usually reduced (not eliminated) because the child only needs day care after school. Most elementary schools provided after school care for a fee.
By middle school most (although not all) kids can be home in the afternoon after school until a parent is at home. Most districts in my area start middle school in 6th grade (11 years old).
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