For many parents, it was ‘a saving grace’. Now, California’s childcare subsidy is expiring

Pandemic relief initiatives helped lift many families out of poverty and now those programs have all but disappeared

Like many working mothers, the first months of the pandemic were a nightmare for Andria Kemp-Sellers. The state of California declared her husband's job at a sugar factory essential, so he continued to go in for 12-hour shifts. She stayed at home in Vallejo, juggling raising their three children and teaching 25 four- and five-year-olds online in Oakland.

The kids were eating me out of house and home because they were bored," Kemp-Sellers said, laughing. Eating became an event!"