LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Layoffs, pay cuts, financial instability. Nearly every American has been impacted by the shaky economy and can relate to the out of control feeling that comes with being hit by unforeseen circumstances.

For many families Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent veto of funding for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care was that unforeseen circumstance.

The Stage 3 program was developed to assist with child care service payments for low-income families that are transitioning off or are former recipients of cash aid.

Temporary relief was felt on Nov. 5 as Alameda Superior Court Judge Wynne Carvill delayed the implementation of the cuts until at least the end of November when a hearing on the case can be held, but families relying on the funding to get back on their feet still have reason to worry.

Kim Beall has run Sunshine Family ChildCare out of her home in Lakeport since 1994. Her child care service is one of many registered through North Coast Opportunities (NCO), a local nonprofit that uses the Stage 3 funding to subsidize quality childcare for transitional families.

Over the clinking of toys and children’s laughter she said that the hardest part for her to grasp about the cuts is the lack of compassion, noting that she doubts “anybody involved in these cuts went home and had somebody sitting at their table that had been affected by it.”

Nearly half of the children Beall provides care for will be affected by the cuts.

This would create a financial loss for Beall, but it’s the moral aspect of the situation that bothers her, not the money. Pulling in just over $18,000 a year monetary gain is not her focus; she’s in it for the kids.

Unchanged dirty diapers, children being left unsupervised in homes and stifling hot cars, secondhand smoke exposure – these are just a handful of the horror stories Beall tells about inexpensive child care services.

Christal and Jimmy White were once the victims of inadequate child care and have since found Sunshine Family ChildCare and Beall who also informed the couple about NCO.

“It’s hard to trust somebody with your kid,” said Christal White. “I don’t want to lose Kim”

“She is so good with the kids, I don’t know how she gets my daughter to listen,” her husband chimed in with a smile. “Whatever she is doing, it’s working.”

Jimmy White was laid off from his job with a cabinet shop a little over a year ago. With help from NCO he has gone back to school to receive his GED.

He has been steadily job searching and says that the child care funding is exactly what his family needs to gain the financial stability to be self-sufficient.

They have been trying to find new services but say the anxiety of reliving their bad experience tends to affect their daily productivity. They’ve also noticed a difference in their daughter.

“She’s all mixed up,” Christal White said. “It’s not good for a kid to just be bounced around all the time.”

The Whites have made a temporary arrangement to cover child care, but both agree that their journey to stability without Stage 3 help scares them.

Valerie Stark of Lakeport knows that fearful feeling.

“I was shocked to hear the news,” said Stark. “We go through this every year with the budget, but I never thought they’d really cut the funding.”

Dolls, trophies and photographs of her children decorate the modest two-bedroom apartment where she lives. Her driveway is unoccupied because she couldn’t afford to pay her car registration and is falling behind on rent and electricity.

Separated from her husband and having recently lost her job, Stark struggles to provide for her three children – ages 1, 4 and 6 – alone.

Her $315 a week unemployment check makes her ineligible for child care coverage. She currently works part-time and says she is afraid to find a steady job because she may have to quit for lack of reliable child care.

Stark also takes her children to Sunshine Family ChildCare and credits Beall with the fact that her son entered kindergarten at the top of his class. Laughing, she thought about how Beall has him sit down to “do his letters” at the beginning of every day.

Anger and frustration are common emotions for Stark. She acknowledged that her own choices got her to the position she is in, but stresses that she is trying to be self-sustaining. The decision seems backwards to her because she feels like she has “no choice but to be back on welfare.”

“I don’t want to be back on the system,” she explained, tears welling up in her dark blue eyes. “I want to work … this affects the people that are trying.”

The Whites also feel frustrated wondering why the decision was made to take funding away from families working to be good examples for their children. They feel like the child care cuts are encouraging people to “jump on welfare and collect the benefits.”

“I know the program works, I’ve seen it work,” said Beall. “All the people that think these families are just leeching off the system don’t realize that sometimes they are just one paycheck away from being right there … they just don’t see it.”

Although families can rely on funding for now, those affected hope that the delay will provide time for people to realize the severity of the Stage 3 cuts.

They hope that communities can put aside differences to unite over the unforeseen circumstances that people have experienced and not give handouts to the undeserving, but provide a helping hand for those truly in need.

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