Finances and Having a New Baby//

 
Introducing a dependent into your life can be overwhelming for many reasons. Sometimes you will feel like you are not knowledgeable enough to be a mom or dad, sometimes you feel like it will sidetrack your education or career plans, sometimes there are relationship or family pressures and difficulties. Most often the biggest mental obstacle is the thought that there isn’t enough money. Honestly, the pressure to provide financially goes through just about everyone’s mind, no matter what their paycheck looks like! We all want to be sure we have all the resources we need to give a baby a “good” life. Yes, having a baby will bring an additional strain on the budget, but with a little thought, exploring good opportunities and being creative, everyone figures out a way just like with the other things in life.
Before giving you practical resources to help in area of financial support, let’s address a couple of really important points:

• Having a lot of money DOES NOT make you a “good” parent. Decade after decade or excellent parenting, without lucrative bank accounts, has happened and produced intelligent, well adjusted, healthy, balanced children who go on to do really awesome things for the world. Being a good parent is about WHO you are, not WHAT you “have.” We all can compare notes about wealthy families who have self-centered, lazy, unmotivated kids, right?
• There is no expiration date on a career or life calling. Your plans may be delayed by this unplanned pregnancy, but they are never gone. We live in an amazing time as women and parents. We can finish our education while taking care of our babies – either online, night classes or with schools that provide child care. There are so many companies with opportunities for remote employment! With the development of the internet, work-from-home employees are actively sought after. Then when your child is in school, you have built up experience and expertise to return to the work field if you choose – that’s a win, win!

There are amazing resources at your fingertips in your own community. These are designed to help people just like you! Do a little leg work, start asking questions and you will find organizations that will support you and help you parent in many different ways. This is not an exhaustive list, it’s just to get you started, so many of these organizations will have connections to other things as wll.
Resources to explore:

• Employment/Job Listings
  • www.hiremymom.com – a website designed expressly for mothers to work remotely in their field.
  • www.jobsinthevalley.com – listings for extra work both FT/PT for all kinds of jobs.
• Clothing
  • www.dressforsuccess.org (many churches also have free clothing programs)
• Local Career Centers and Job Training
  • Springfield
    • www.rocainc.org
    • www.grafton.jobcorps.gov
  • Worcester
    • Enter Here
• Education
  • Springfield
    • www.stcc.edu
    • www.tra-inc.org
    • www.carecenterholyoke.org
  • Worcester
    • Enter Here
• Financial Assistance
  • www.suntopia.org
• Diapers or Baby Clothes
  • Springfield
    • www.springfieldpcc.org
  • Worcester
    • Add
  • For Families
    • www.givingdiapersgivinghope.org
    • www.clothforall.org
• Food & Grocery – check your local food pantries, soup kitchens, and especially local churches/faith communities who have food pantries available.
  • Springfield
    • www.foodbankwma.org
  • Worcester
    • Add
  • General
    • www.foodbank.org
    • www.wicprograms.org
• Housing Assistance
  • www.hud.gov/massachusetts
  • www.wayfindersma.org
  • www.rcapsolutions.org
• Licensed Childcare
  • www.bethelccs.com
  • www.mass.gov
  • www,myopenarms.com
  • www.partnersforcommunity.org
• Medical Clinics
  • www.freeclinics.com
• Scholarships
  • www.scholarshipstrategies.org
  • www.scholarshipmom.org
• E-books for College Students
  • www.gutenberg.org