Galesburg residents share how Rauner’s dangerous cuts will hurt them
Read more about the action from The Register-Mail:
GALESBURG — Child and home care providers along with the Service Employees International Union Illinois gathered for a prayer vigil and rally to speak out against cuts proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
SEIU hosted the event Monday night at New Home Missionary Baptist Church on First Street in the hopes of bringing real people’s stories to the table.
One of those people was Chrystal Lind, who had been using child care services after her the father of her children attacked her.
“In 2011 I was stabbed eight times by the kids’ father who took care of my kids and I was off work,” Lind said. “For me to go back to work I had to sit back and go, ‘Who is going to take care of my kids? How was I going to afford it? How was I going to pay my bills?’ So my caseworker set me up with child care and helped me to go back to work and put my kids in a safe place so I was able to go back to work.”
Lind said without those programs, she could have lost her job or worse, had her children in the care of the person who assaulted her.
“I don’t want anybody to go through what I had to go through, to choose your significant other who is abusive to watch your kids, so I prefer people to go through the system to get child care to make sure that they’re able to function, able keep their things and not go through what I had to go through,” Lind said.
If the Legislature and Rauner do not come up with a spending plan by Wednesday, cuts to Medicaid, home care and child care services will take effect, and would have an immediate impact on the families that utilize those programs.