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the company I work for and company my husband works for both offer a "back up care" perk which is very useful. The one at my company is not for sick children more for school closures and sick care givers but the one my husbands company has is GREAT. It is called Work Options Group, perhaps you can give them a call and see if you can privately by into the plan or if you work for a large company bring it to HR; I'm sure many people have a similar problem.
Here is how it works, we can pay to send my son to a child care center for $2 an hour. This is good for school closings or if you have a sitter who is sick. If your child is sick and cannot go to daycare or school they can send someone to your house to take care of your child for $4 an hour. This has been so helpful to us as my toddler is often catching minor bugs at daycare, their policy does not except sick children and they have to stay home for 1-2 days. It wouldn't really help with the initial pick-up from school but if your child is actually sick and needs to stay home for a couple of days this is a real life saver. The people they send are all licensed home care aides and have been screened and background checked. Our plan gives us 100 hours of care per year which is plenty for a usually healthy child. Of course if my child is VERY ill to heck with work I stay home since what he really needs is mommy but when it's just a low grade fever and a stuffy nose this is a great option. If your child needs medication you let the call center know when you request care and they will send someone who is licensed to dispense medication (this was great for us when DS had pink eye and needed drops every few hours). For anyone else who is a SAHM this insurance is also good for you, I used to stay home and got so sick a couple of times that watching my child was just too much, I had someone come to our home and take care of him so i could take care of myself. You could also use this as a stop gap if you have after school arrangements fall through for a couple of days.
I also would recommend finding a single parent support group in your area. Single parents are so resourceful, they may be able to help you find additional resources in your area. Meetup.com might be a good starting point to find a group.
Best of luck to you! It must be hard to be a single parent in a new city with no support system in place.
the company I work for and company my husband works for both offer a "back up care" perk which is very useful. The one at my company is not for sick children more for school closures and sick care givers but the one my husbands company has is GREAT. It is called Work Options Group, perhaps you can give them a call and see if you can privately by into the plan or if you work for a large company bring it to HR; I'm sure many people have a similar problem.
Here is how it works, we can pay to send my son to a child care center for $2 an hour. This is good for school closings or if you have a sitter who is sick. If your child is sick and cannot go to daycare or school they can send someone to your house to take care of your child for $4 an hour. This has been so helpful to us as my toddler is often catching minor bugs at daycare, their policy does not except sick children and they have to stay home for 1-2 days. It wouldn't really help with the initial pick-up from school but if your child is actually sick and needs to stay home for a couple of days this is a real life saver. The people they send are all licensed home care aides and have been screened and background checked. Our plan gives us 100 hours of care per year which is plenty for a usually healthy child. Of course if my child is VERY ill to heck with work I stay home since what he really needs is mommy but when it's just a low grade fever and a stuffy nose this is a great option. If your child needs medication you let the call center know when you request care and they will send someone who is licensed to dispense medication (this was great for us when DS had pink eye and needed drops every few hours). For anyone else who is a SAHM this insurance is also good for you, I used to stay home and got so sick a couple of times that watching my child was just too much, I had someone come to our home and take care of him so i could take care of myself. You could also use this as a stop gap if you have after school arrangements fall through for a couple of days.
I also would recommend finding a single parent support group in your area. Single parents are so resourceful, they may be able to help you find additional resources in your area. Meetup.com might be a good starting point to find a group.
Best of luck to you! It must be hard to be a single parent in a new city with no support system in place.
I'm thinking of the OP today, both my kids are home sick, thank goodness I work at home and have flexibility. That's why I keep my job, it doesn't pay as much as I'd like but is flexible.
To OP, take it one day at a time, your kids come first! Good luck!
Thanks MaryLee, you've been awesome on this thread and I appreciate it, thanks also to icibiu, you're right, if they're really sick, to heck with work!!
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