free/low cost occasional/emergency child care ideas?

[singin'intherain]

My df and I are both custodial single parents and students. I have four kids and he has three. My ex has visitation with our kids, eow and a weekly overnight, which is when I study. But my df's kids haven't even seen their mom in weeks. I help him as much as I can, and he has a couple of family members who help occasionally, but not without a lot of arm twisting. This custody situation was a sudden change that happened a few months ago. He dropped his classes when they came to him full time, but now he's back in school and really struggling. His kids are 3, 6, and 7, so studying while they watch tv is not a viable option. I've never had to find childcare beyond the occasional teenager, so I don't know if there are options out there for him, so he can get a few hours in on the weekends, maybe a couple of hours in the evening. He's not getting any child support and is not working, so what I'm looking for are ideas for finding free or low cost programs. Thanks!

[LoveOhm]

You can have him apply for subsidized childcare....

If I am correct the 6 & 7 year old children should be in school during the day and subsidized childcare most often covers the full cost of after school care at public schools. Also put ALL the kids to be at 7PM and you and your df will have plenty of time to study in the evenings for free.

[Shiloh]

look for activities, do you have a community centre? an athletic centre at school?
They often provide subsidized or free activities that are supervised if the 3 year old is toilet trained. If you are religious at all they often have children's classes, or little old grannies without granchildren who'd love to help out.

Ikea here will give you 40 minutes free, its not a long time but its time to do something.

Ask at their school, here my kids do second language classes for 3 hours every Saturday.

A kid who is 12-16 is often willing to be a parental helper for about $5 or less if he is studying at home. How about trading an hour of tutoring for a couple hours babysitting? Tutoring is really expensive for parents.

But since it sounds like the kids were dropped in your laps, why not get in touch with a social service agency, they would be able to hook you up with foodstamps, subdaycare, or even in home respit care..

[34me]

Does your school have a non-traditional student group? You could rade child care once in a while...

[One_Girl]

If you have a YMCA in your area then he can apply for financial aid and get the kids in some activities there, some even have preschools for a few hours during the day. Head Start may take the three year old for part of the day, if not this year then next year. Head Start will bus the child to the center if you are too far away to walk. He needs to apply soon because in many areas the spots get taken very quickly.

[coryy]

Depending on his school schedule, he can sign the kids up for library story hour and get, well, at least one less distraction at a time while he studies. Being a single parent and student he should be eligible for a low-cost head start program for the little one.
One trick my girlfriend taught me was to utilize the local grocery stores...two different stores around here have free drop-in centers that you sign the kids into while you shop. Both stores also have cafes...for her, it was a free "date night"--they would drop off the kids, get coffee, and stay in the grocery store for their 1 1/2 hour allotted time. I've done it to ease up grocery shopping (so i only have to sling the baby and the other two can play while i shop). If there is more than one store in your area that does it, that might give him some relief.