Child Tax Credit: Changing Americans’ Lives

“Months after the lockdown, Maggie Wiggin noticed her 7-year-old son had become depressed. “The lockdown was a nightmare, I think, for a lot of children with special needs. Just an incredibly difficult time ”, she said, explaining that her son was autistic. “And then he started to get sick.”

“Her face started to swell, a sign of edema; his kidneys were not working. He spent time in the hospital, took what Wiggin describes as “nasty medicine” and asked his parents if he was okay. The trauma accumulated over time, and Wiggin, desperate to help, was elated when she discovered an effective therapy for her son called Floortime, for which a practitioner came to her home to work directly with her son.

‘There was just one problem: the insurance wouldn’t cover it. The family, which includes her 4-year-old daughter, has started taking on credit card debt. They believed that if they had a choice “between being perpetually miserable and being in debt with a credit card, it was an easy choice: pay,” she said.

“Then July 15 arrived and, with it, the relief: Wiggin received $ 550 this Thursday morning, thanks to the expanded child tax credit … ‘

Sarah Jones brings you some concrete examples of the impact of child tax credit payments.