Helen

Divorced after ten years of marriage. Three young boys to raise and support. Limited job experience.

Helen had her job cut out for her, and it was going to be tough. She had no family close by to watch her boys. She had never left them with anyone else before, and wasn’t comfortable leaving them at any of the day care centers she had already visited. Coping with the aftermath of a divorce, finding someone to care for her boys who were 1, 2, and 9 years old, and landing a job so she could make ends meet, created an overwhelming and frightening situation.

It became less so when she was able to enroll her two younger boys at Children’s Home + Aid’s childcare center in Palatine. The staff was very helpful and gave her hope that things would work out. She found a job as a hostess in a restaurant and, with her two boys safely in the hands of Children’s Palatine daycare center, was able go to work without worrying about her children. She knows that the children are receiving good meals at the center, and that they are loved and cared for well.

For Helen, the subsidized childcare has helped her financial situation. But she says that the biggest help of all has been the staff at the center, and that the children could not be in a better place. The staff noticed a speech delay in her youngest child, and arranged for the child to receive therapy at the center while Helen was at work. The convenient arrangement was an enormous help to Helen. Although it’s a 50-minute drive to the center from her home, Helen feels the service is worth it.

"This place is my life. If it wasn't for Children’s Home + Aid, we would not be able to make it."
—Helen

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