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Cathyleen Williams of Barstow, California, shuddered as she listened to the claims agent from the state鈥檚 unemployment insurance program.

Williams wouldn鈥檛 be getting unemployment benefits, the agent said. Family members paid by the state鈥檚  to care for children with disabilities, spouses caring for spouses, and children younger than 18 caring for parents didn鈥檛 get unemployment benefits if the person they cared for died, the agent explained. 

Williams, a single mother, couldn鈥檛 believe what she was hearing. For almost a decade, she鈥檇 relied on the full-time, minimum wage from the In-Home program to care for her son, Caleb, who had a rare birth defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome and needed round-the-clock attention. How was she going to immediately find a job while dealing with the loss of her child?

鈥淚 was floored, devastated,鈥� says Williams, whose son died of complications from influenza in 2016, at age 9. 鈥淚 thought, in the midst of your grief, you shouldn鈥檛 have to worry about how you鈥檙e financially going to take care of yourself.鈥�

Williams did find a job five months after Caleb died, and was able to stabilize her finances. But the desperation she felt in the wake of his death after realizing she had no unemployment safety net to fall back on, set her on a quest to prevent other family caregivers in the In-Home program from suffering the same fate. This week that quest appeared to be nearing an end, as  to family caregivers enrolled in the In-Home program and a similar one called Waiver Personal Care Services, headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 desk. 

鈥淚 feel very hopeful,鈥� says Williams, who has worked tirelessly to advocate for the bill, called Assembly Bill 1993. 

Given the high rate of unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the bill is needed more than ever, she explains.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be catastrophic for these parents鈥� if the bill doesn鈥檛 pass, she adds. 鈥淲ith (more than) a million people on unemployment and no jobs to really be found, how are we going to take care of them? What are they going to do?鈥�  

If signed into law, AB-1993 is expected to extend unemployment eligibility to more than 119,000 family caregivers, who are primarily low-income women of color, according to the home care workers union United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME Local 3930. Supporters say that鈥檚 only fair, given that people employed as in-home caregivers who are not family members do receive unemployment benefits if they lose their job. 

According to Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), who introduced the bill, the current policy of excluding family caregivers from receiving benefits is the product of outdated, discriminatory attitudes toward women.

鈥淢ost parent and spouse in-home supportive service providers are wives and mothers,鈥� Kamlager writes, in a statement. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e excluded from receiving unemployment because domestic labor has always been seen as 鈥榣ess than鈥� because mostly women do it. As we rebuild California鈥檚 post-pandemic economy, we need to eliminate sexism and racism from the fabric of our society and guarantee equity to all workers.鈥�

The estimated cost to the state of extending eligibility is about $14 million annually, according to an analysis of the bill from the state legislature. The final bill garnered unanimous support in the state Assembly, and Senate. Gov. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign it. 

Backers of the bill, including the home care workers union United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME Local 3930, say it will help stabilize the in-home caregiver workforce, which is heavily reliant on family members because of a shortage of other workers available to do the job. The goal of the In-Home program is also to keep low-income children with disabilities and the elderly in their homes, generally a more comfortable choice for families, and less costly to the state than paying for a residential care facility.

Mirna Ruiz, a Rialto single mother of two children with disabilities, says she thinks the bill is overdue. Ruiz has relied on the In-Home program for 12 years, after being forced to quit her job as an insurance writer to care for her now 24-year-old son with a heart condition, seizure disorder, and mild cerebral palsy. She also has an 18-year-old daughter who is deaf and required surgery and auditory verbal therapy as a child. 

Even with the In-Home payments, Ruiz, 48, says she had to move in with her mother to make ends meet. If she were to lose that support, she wouldn鈥檛 be able to afford basic necessities, she explains.

She and other caregivers 鈥渓iterally dedicate our lives to our kids,鈥� she says, and adds that to not have a financial cushion after the loss of a child would be devastating.

Williams knows that feeling. She now runs her own , helping provide support and guidance to families of children with disabilities. She鈥檚 heard from many parents over the years that have felt the financial impact after their child died and they stopped receiving In-Home support. Some lost houses, cars, and other possessions as a result. 

Grieving is 鈥渁ll you should have to worry about when your baby dies,鈥� Williams says.

This story was produced in partnership with the .