"Children all deserve to be nurtured and doted upon every waking moment in their first weeks, not just children born into money."

My three beautiful boys. My most important family responsibility is being there for them.

I work part time as a barista and I don’t have any paid family leave at all.

When I was pregnant with our twins we were living in California. I was a flight attendant and my husband worked at Trader Joes. Our combined income was around 35k but we both got to be home after they were born. I had to have an emergency c-section for our second twin and having my husband home in the weeks after was so crucial to my being able to nurse both babies. I truly could not have done it alone.

What bothered me was that I knew if we ever had another child outside of California that we would not have this help.

Paid family leave can define the beginning of a child's life. A parent stressed about money cannot hide that stress fully and babies pick up on stress.

Paid family leave is truly a very small commitment with very big results and it levels the playing field between minimum wage workers and higher paid workers in regards to their children's lives.

Children all deserve to be nurtured and doted upon every waking moment in their first weeks, not just children born into money.

— Jessica S., Gig Harbor
(26th Legislative District)