Child care waitlists are keeping women out of work and it's heartbreaking

Let me tell you, when I read about Edythe Smith getting that frozen funding notice the day after giving birth, I felt it in my chest. I've been there in different ways, and I know how quickly a door can slam shut when you're trying to hold everything together. What gets me is that this isn't some edge case problem, it's happening to thousands of women right now who are trying to work, go back to school, or build something better for their families. The waitlists are so long that women are literally choosing between their careers and their kids because they can't afford care, and that's not a personal failure, that's a broken system. I know we can do better than this, and I hope stories like Edythe's wake people up to how urgent this really is. You're not alone in this struggle, and your ambitions matter just as much as anyone else's.