The expanded child tax credit (CTC) lifted millions of children out of poverty and reduced rates of food insecurity. For Marietta, Georgia, mom Hannah Ochoa, the CTC prevented her family from slipping into homelessness.
![Hannah Ochoa is pictured with her fiance, Robert, and children, Jayden, Justin, Wyatt, and Arianna, in December 2021.]()
Hannah Ochoa is pictured with her fiance, Robert, and children, Jayden, Justin, Wyatt, and Arianna, in December 2021. (Photo credit: Riley Bunch, Georgia Public Broadcasting)
If it weren’t for the CTC, Hannah and her four children might have wound up homeless. After her fiance had an accident that put him out of work for several months, Hannah took on a minimum-wage job; but despite working all the hours she could get, her income could not support their family of six. She used the CTC for rent, food, and gas to help them get through a difficult time. In its absence, Hannah has been going to food banks to make ends meet. She will begin working soon but cannot secure child care and is praying she will find a way to make it all work.
For some people, it’s [the CTC] a lifesaver, I have been through hell. I didn't know what else to do, it saved me and my kids from being on the street.
Hannah Ochoa
Making the expanded CTC permanent would reduce childhood poverty by more than 40 percent. Absent congressional action, families and children will continue to slip through the invisible cracks in the nation’s safety net.
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This storybook features women in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire whose stories center on issues from prescription drug pricing and health insurance, to child care and paid leave.