This article originally appeared in the March-April 2008 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

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Parent Voices

Spreading the word about tax credits

By Amanda Montague

When the local child care resource and referral agency helped Dawn V. Love, a Hayward mother of one, file her taxes—“for free!” she says—she found out she qualified for tax credits (see Tax credits). Every year since, she’s gotten extra money back. “There was one year I was two months behind on my rent and the tax credit helped me pay that off. Last year, I was able to go see my family and pay some debt off, which I can’t afford to do throughout the year. I also saved a little bit,” she adds.

Now Love is working with other parents in Parent Voices and LIFETIME to let more parents know that they may be eligible for state and federal tax credits. “We pass out fliers and inform parents about the tax credits that might be available to them,” she says.

Love joined Parent Voices in 1999 when she was enrolled in CalWORKS but wasn’t active until 2004, she says. “Last year, I testified in front of 700 people at the Stand for Children Day. I talked about how community care licensing should be required to visit (child care) sites once or twice a year instead of once every seven years.” [Last year’s budget changed licensing visits to every three years, but this year, the governor’s budget proposal would change it back to every seven years, see Children's Advocates Roundtable]

“My daughter, Akilah, comes with me to Stand for Children Day—she’s been active in advocacy since she was 7 or 8,” she adds.

Thanks to the the San Francisco Foundation for its support of this page. www.sff.org

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Tax credits

If you work and have children—even if you don’t owe taxes—you might qualify for up to:

• $2,100 from the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit

• $1,050 from the California Tax Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses

• $4,716 from the federal Earned Income Tax Credit

• $1,000 per child from the federal Child Tax Credit

Find out where you can get free help with your taxes by contacting the IRS, 800-TAX-1040, www.irs.gov/individuals/topic or Child Care Connection, 800-543-7793

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Announcements

May 7: Stand for Children Day, Sacramento: Join over 500 parents from across California to rally for quality affordable child care. Tell legislators how important affordable child care is to your family’s security.

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Parent Voices contacts:

Statewide: Mary Ignatius, 415-882-0234. mignatius@rrnetwork.org

Alameda (Hayward): Jennifer Greppi, 510-584-3111, jenniferf@4c-alameda.org

Alameda (Oakland): Janet Zamudio, 510-658-7353, janet@bananasinc.org

Amador: Brenda Bullington, 209-223-1624, ext. 109, Brenda@hrcccr.org

Butte: Jane Haberman, 530-895-1677, jhaberman@valleyoakchildren.org

Calaveras: Cheryl Berg, 209-754-1075, ext. 115, cberg@hrcccr.org

Contra Costa: Candy Duperroir, 925-778-4739, candy@cocokids.org

El-Dorado: Heather Della Ripa, 530-541-5848, hscfcslt@pacbell.net

Fresno: Lourdes Hernandez, 559-456-1100, louh@cvcsn.org

Los Ángeles: Christine Giron, 323-421-2602, cgiron@crystalstairs.org

Marin: Leah Benz, 415-491-5776, leah@mc3.org

Sacramento: Rachel Minnick, 916-369-3387, Rachel.Minnick@childaction.org

San Francisco: Maria Luz Torre, 415-343-3383, parentvoices@childrenscouncil.org

San Mateo: Nelly Puhachevsky, 650-655-6770, ext. 283, nelly@sanmateo4cs.org

Santa Barbara: contact statewide organizers

Santa Clara: Mario Del Castillo, 408-487-0747, mariod@4c.org

Solano: Kathy Lago, 707-864-4620,
klago@solanosfcs.org

Sonoma: Lorie Siebler, 707-522-1413, lsiebler@sonoma4cs.org

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