Parents pull kids from day care as money tightens [View All]

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

ROCKFORD, Ill. – The nation's economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago.

Some parents have been laid off and must pull their children out of the day care center until they can find a job. Others' employment hours have been cut, so they reduce their kids' attendance to a few days a week.

<snip>

"Even in the last couple weeks it feels like (economic troubles) are moving up in the next income level," said Toni Brown, who owns Stepping Stones Child's Center in nearby Roscoe. "First, the people living day-to-day who were immediately hit. Now it's hitting people who thought they were safe for a while."

General Motors Corp. this month announced plans to shut down its plant just across the state line in Janesville, Wis., putting 1,200 people out of work — and Brown is bracing for the repercussions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_child_care