Every night after work, Deniz Saenz would start the same routine: Call the neighborhood babysitters and see who was available to watch her infant son, Sebastian, the next day while she prepped food at her restaurant job.
“I would be calling 10 different ladies to see who can take care of him,” the single mother said. “It was really a struggle.”
As she left Sebastian each day, Saenz worried whether he would get proper care or educational opportunities from caregivers who were often overwhelmed with other kids. So, she signed up for the Concord Child Care Center and dutifully checked on her waiting-list status until 2013, when she was accepted into the free child care program.
“They’ve been so helpful to me in so many ways,” the 24-year-old Concord resident said from the center’s office. “I feel safe dropping him off here.”
