Five Families' Stories

This section introduces you to six families and their Shared Care stories. We have tried to include stories that span the family lifecycle, to show you some of what is possible depending on the amount of outside care you feel comfortable with, how much you plan to work, and the needs of your child.

Sanjay and Jill - Job-sharing engineers each work three days a week, dividing their young children's care, and using a baby-sitter one day a week. Sanjay and Jill negotiated sharing one job. Each parent works three days a week, and has two full days with the children at home, while the other parent works at the job. The parents' work shifts overlap for one day in the middle of the week, and they use outside childcare for that day.

Linda and Brad - Corporate consultant and software engineer work four days a week, spending one day each with their son during the work week. Three days a week the child is cared for at a neighborhood childcare center.

Lauren and Ben - Teacher and carpenter share care for two school-aged children, rotating morning and afternoon shifts at work and with the children. Lauren and Ben flex their work around their children's school schedules. The parents share morning and after-school childcare responsibilities, rotating their schedules so each parent gets at least two afternoons and two mornings each with the children.

Rachel - Conference organizer works three days a week nine months of the year, dividing the care of her preschool aged daughter with friends and a local childcare center. For the last three months of the year, Rachel works full-time and uses full-time childcare. The single mother moved across country to be closer to her support system and changed careers to make more time for her adopted child.

Barry - Architect phasing into retirement cares for his grandson two days a week. Barry negotiated working 60% at his firm in order to be able to care for his young grandson two full days a week, allowing his daughter-in-law time to work those two days a week when she was not with the child.

To learn more about other work-family models, click here.
To learn more about Shared Care,click here.

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