Emergency child care for woman escaping abusive relationship

[Anonymous]

Sorry to post here but I was hoping that people might have suggestions for resouces I'm not aware of. A co-worker is escaping an abusive relationship. The father of her 4 year old has been hitting her and is involved with drugs - just a horrible situation. He was watching her son during the days and now that she's filed a restraining order against him and has left her apartment she needs to find child care for her son during the day while she's at work. He's starting school in the fall so this would just be through the summer.
Are there any resources for people in this position? What would be the cheapest (but safest) form of child care? Any suggestions? She lives in Maryland and works downtown.
I'm sorry this is so disjointed - I'm just not sure how to help!
Thank you for any suggestions!

[Anonymous]

She might be able to get government assistance. Why not call CPS and explain the situation to them and see what suggestions they have?

[Anonymous]

Cheapest would be an in-home daycare, probably. I offered in-home care for a few weeks to a woman going through a similar situation (I'm a FT nanny but this was in between positions), so she might be able to find someone really trustworthy, especially if she has friends and colleagues to help her screen them?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't call CPS. I would call your local county services like the health department and ask them about child care. Most counties have childcare assistance and I'm fairly certain she would qualify. I went through the same thing as your friend and that is what I did. After my son was enrolled in the daycare I told them my now ex-husband was not to pick my child up and why. I really hope your friend and her child will be ok. It took me a few months to get my life back on track but I found a job and had my son in daycare and once the dust settled I was able to start paying the daycare myself to watch my son with the help of a child support check that I got monthly from my ex-husband.

[Anonymous]

I don't think theres any special handouts for someone in that situation, although it doesn't hurt to ask.

Have your friend look into in-home daycare or maybe switch childcare for other parents. Like taking turns (for free). There also might be some cheap daycares.

[Anonymous]

There *are* special programs that will help out with childcare assistance, especially if you need help to get away from an abusive spouse. I agree about calling local county services, they are usually the ones that fund stuff like that or will have a list of organizations that could help and will give a referral if needed.

[Anonymous]

A women's shelter might be able to direct her to the right resources.