Preschool and Insurance for my Kid (Dallas, Plano: low income, health insurance, day cares)

[siamak]

Hi all,

I am new in Dallas. I am an international student in UTD. I'd like to know that is there any child care in richardson or plano with prices below 350$/mo or not. Do you know any child care that has discount for students. I'd also like to know that there are any public preschool (for age 3), or all the preschools are private. Since, we are not citizens, the public preschools will accept to register my kid or not. I have another question regarding my wife's insurance. Since my income is lower than 2000$/mo, is there any help from goverment to support my wife's insurance while we are not citizens.

thank you very much in advance for your nice comments.
Siamak

[BlosmTX]

That's about $80/week- I think that's going to be extremely difficult if not impossible to find a daycare center for that amount. You might be able to find an in-home daycare for that price, but it would be tough.
I've found this website extremely useful whenever I've been on the daycare hunt:
DFPS - Search Texas Child Care
You can search either by zip code or by city name. It lists all reports, inspections, and violations of both center and home based childcare. As well as operating hours and contact info for the center. You'll have to do your own homework in terms of finding out the prices, though.

[siamak]

Thank you very much for your reply,

I'd like to know that is there any kind of insurance free of charge for someone with low income that is not citizen.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[gsoy]

I don't know about the daycare situation but for your kid's health insurance check this out, I think this is what you are looking for. Your citizenship status does not matter.

CHIP | Children's Medicaid

I also know that Plano ISD has free preschool for low income families, I am not sure about Richardson ISD though.

Best,
gsoy

[sonshinelife]

All districts should offer a state funded pre-k program for 4 years old that are 4 as of Sept. 1st of the year they would attend. However, they must qualify based off language, income, or both. Homeless and children whose parents are serving the country also can qualify.

Some of the private day cares offer programs that help families. You just have to ask around. I know that Discover and Share in Coppell use to work with an organization that helped families. Not sure of the program, though. They might have it listed on their website. google Discover and Share. This way you would know what to ask for at other daycares.