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douglas9

(4,951 posts)
Fri Jul 25, 2025, 07:10 AM Friday

'Nobody to Watch My Twins.' Military Spouses Quit Jobs, Families Bust Budgets in Scramble for Child Care

But an email at the end of May derailed everything. Just days before she was due to return to her dental office job, the on-base child care center informed her the twins would not have spots—until May 2026.

“I was in a panic,” Kinninson said. “I had to quit my job. And I had to find a work-from-home job because I had nobody to watch my twins.”

Military families and on-base child care providers have known for a long time that theirs is a system delicately balanced on a wobbling foundation, made shakier by the frequent moves of its primary pool of employees—military spouses.

But suddenly, the country’s largest employer-sponsored child care system was upended by staffing shortages that rippled from base to base after a DOD-wide hiring freeze announced in late February prevented centers from filling vacancies. Even though child care providers were exempted from the freeze three weeks after it was announced, the damage has persisted for months.

Military child care waitlists around the country remain frozen—oftentimes providing no notice to parents who are counting on care.

“It’s really setting families up for failure,” said Kayla Corbitt, the founder and CEO of Operation Child Care Project, a nonprofit that advocates and provides child care case management services for 50 to 60 DOD families at a time nationwide. “This is happening at almost every installation, but they’re not telling anyone.”

https://thewarhorse.org/military-family-childcare/

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'Nobody to Watch My Twins.' Military Spouses Quit Jobs, Families Bust Budgets in Scramble for Child Care (Original Post) douglas9 Friday OP
The GOP wants military wives to stay home and pop out babies every year. Irish_Dem Friday #1
Meanwhile, Gillibrand Bohunk68 Friday #2

Bohunk68

(1,403 posts)
2. Meanwhile, Gillibrand
Fri Jul 25, 2025, 07:42 AM
Friday

is trying to give cops childcare paid for by the rest of us. Why not childcare for everyone then? They already have immunity for their crimes.

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