Childcare while job hunting, what worked? after 3 years as an IT help-desk technician

The daycare near me wants more than I can pay. I looked into subsidies but the forms are long. Is there an emergency option?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 14 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

I swapped afternoons with another parent. It took some planning and saved us both money.