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Harper watches Onyx from the living room as she cleans his bottles out. The sound of hold music plays as she waits for the woman to pick up the phone.
She did a lot of research and found two places that offered 'infant childcare'. The website didn't specify what level of infancy that they meant so she's calling to check. The first childcare place said that they took babies seven to eight months or if they were crawling, whichever came first.
Onyx is only three months so he's definitely not crawling. So she's now on the phone with the second childcare place while her son does tummy time.
She asked them the youngest age of the kids that they took and was told that it was four months. This works out perfectly for her because Onyx will be four months in eight days.
Harper then had to ask if they take payments through D.S.S. because that's how she'll be paying a portion of her childcare. That's the question that got her put on hold.
Initially, she didn't think that it would cause a problem to ask the question. But now that she's really thinking about it, she currently lives in an apartment that's on the border of the suburbs. The places that she called for childcare are around the area or in the suburbs. They may not take D.S.S.
"Hello? Miss Harper?" The woman takes her off of hold. Harper quickly dries her hands and picks the device up.
"Yes, I'm here."
"Okay, so I just spoke with my manager and we do not take D.S.S.. We do require that the parents or legal guardians make the full monthly payment."
Harper stands in her kitchen and blinks. Her mind slows as she processes what he's saying.
"I don't understand. I'll be the one enrolling my son. The business will still be getting paid."
"Right, but it won't be you making the payments. It will technically be the county's money. So if, for whatever reason, you get cut off, we won't be able to care for your child anymore."
"...Right. But isn't that the same thing that would happen for any other child and their parents? They can't make the payments, their child gets taken out of care. That's a standard practice but you'll still be getting paid. There actually more of a guarantee that you'll be getting paid by me than a person without D.S.S.. That's handled, as you said, through the county. It's a stipend."
Harper listens as the woman takes the phone from her ear and inhales deeply. She sighs heavily in an annoyed manner before speaking into the phone again.
"And while I understand that, it is our policy that we don't take care of children during the day who pay through D.S.S.. It just isn't something that we do here. If it would further assist you, I can give you the names of daycares in the city that I'm sure would be more suitable for your demographic. Excuse me, your situation."
