Lack Of Child Care A Problem For Many Families On Welfare

Shortly after giving birth, Russ Guardipee’s girlfriend handed him their infant daughter.

And then drove away.

“She didn’t want to be tied down,” said Guardipee, now 42. “All I know is that she went to San Diego.”

That left Guardipee, a carpenter, to single-handedly care for the infant.

“It was tough,” he said. “I’d just as soon go to work and pay my taxes. But I couldn’t just go to work five days a week. With her as a baby, I had to go on the welfare system.”

That was nine years ago.

Today, Guardipee and his daughter still rely on welfare: a $251 check and $209 in food stamps per month. They also get free medical care.

He said he wants to work, and is confident he could get a construction job. There’s plenty of work for carpenters in Coeur d’Alene.

The problem, he said, is that he can’t find child care.

Such situations aren’t unusual.

“Literally everywhere we went in the state, people said they couldn’t work because because they didn’t have adequate child care,” said Sen. Gordon Crow, a member of the Governor’s Welfare Reform Advisory Council.

Providing child care is the top priority - and likely the biggest expense - in Idaho’s welfare reform proposal. The council figured the state will spend up to $15 million more a year to make child care better and easier to find. The money, the council figured, will come from what is saved by limiting cash payments to two years.

For now, the Guardipees live in a 30-year-old trailer beside a creek in a narrow canyon. Guardipee does odd jobs, builds birdhouses and makes canes to supplement his income. He does carpentry for his neighbors, for little or no pay.

“Christmastime is usually a time when I don’t pay all my bills,” he said. In the summer, when the electric bill retreats to about $15 a month, he catches up on the debts.

He quit smoking two years ago, to be able to afford Christmas gifts for his daughter.

For summer fun, the two of them dam the creek and soak in the water. Or they go camping nearby.

“As long as they keep it free camping, we’ll be able to do that,” Guardipee said. “If they make it so you have to pay, well, it might be more fun to camp in the yard.”

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