Childcare while job hunting, what worked? after 9 years as a mechanic

I have 9 kids and I need to interview and work without a sitter. It has been a long 17 weeks. I am willing to trade favours. How long did subsidies take?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 2 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.