A letter from Oregon’s Department of Early Learning and Care upended Natalie Kiyah’s life last spring. Kiyah, at the time a pregnant mother of three young children, had received a stipend through the Employment Related Day Care program to help pay for child care. But her 2022 tax returns showed that her income exceeded the annual limit by about $2,000, and she lost the state aid. Unable to come up with an extra $1,500 to $2,000 a month to keep her toddler in full-time care, and unable to work the same hours at her photography and marketing business without child care, Kiyah and her children moved into a shelter for about a month…
