b'BUILDING FORWARD Stories of lightening the loadThe birth of his granddaughter,Mia*, turned Daniels*With a similar eye toward the future,world upside down, but not for the usual reasons. HeCarrie* and her son, Eli*, have benetted brought her home and took on the responsibility offrom receiving tax credit payments to rebuild raising her right from the beginning. And if that wasnttheir lives after experiencing trauma stressful enough, he lost his job as an employee of theand abuse that city during the time he took off to address the mental,landed thememotional, and logistical challenges of bringing homeat their local a newborn. No job meant no money to pay for hismission. Because apartment, and Daniel found himself on the street,she had led a with Mia completely dependent on him. tax return for her Referred to the local mission by a compassionate busmeager earnings driver, Daniel and Mia found a safe place to regroup.the previous As he began taking steps to gure out the best way toyear, Carrie provide for hisautomatically granddaughter,began receiving Daniel discoveredmonthly that he qualied payments to claim the childdirectly into her bank account with the tax credit (CTC)temporary CTC program expansion in 2021.because of hisFor her, that money took the edge off her role raising Mia.stress, reducing her anxiety level in dealing Despite hiswith unexpected expenses like a dead car non-traditionalbattery or a trip to the doctor. It has meant household, Danielshe can enroll Eli in activities that help him longs to give hislearn healthy coping strategies to overcome granddaughterhis difficult past. Slowly but surely, Carrie stability, and thosehas begun to settle into her job, make a stable CTC payments have allowed him to build towardhome for her son, and even begin building a transitioning out of homelessness and establishing asmall cushion that helps her avoid reaching stable environment for the precious little girl in his care. crisis mode when challenges arise.More than 2.5 millionAbout 25 percent of grandparents serve aschildren are growing their grandchildrensup in a single-parent primary caregiver.household. Father Matters U.S. Census Bureau 2020 statistic 2020 data6'