WHAT THE EXPANDED CHILD TAX CREDIT MEANS TO ME
I grew up poor and traumatized, not knowing how to get help. Now my own child’s life will be better. By La’Shon Marshall | September 15, 2021 I remember finding out I was about to become a mother. I felt the fear taking hold of me. My brain stopped. I remember crying but had no tears. I remember trying to run, but I couldn’t move. No one had prepared me for motherhood — my own mother abandoned me when I wasn’t even two years old. My child’s father was violently abusive. My life was unstable and I was terrified of having another human being depend on me. Things are so much better now. My son Caleb is starting kindergarten, and he’s the light of my life. We’ve been through so much together, but we’re making it. One thing that’s helping more than words can express is the new, expanded Child Tax Credit. Passed as part of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief package, it puts money into our bank account — and the bank account of nearly every parent in this country — e...