I am very familar with daycare/afterschool programs in the area, and assistance available. I have lived in this area ten years. I know several parents who receive this assistance. I know people who are receiving this assistance who are paying around $150 a week/over $500 a month for afterschool care for their children. Do I think it is worth it? Absolutely. But not everyone has this financial ability. $500 a month is a significant expense, and not as easy as cutting back on lunches out, etc. You say you would assume the care was available if it was stated it was at a free or reduced rate, but that wasn't stated. What the article stated was that the school was "trying" to make it available. I know that there are typically long wait lists for this assistance in the area, and that is why I have questioned if it was actually available, since everyone seems to be jumping on DT for not taking advantage of it.
I'm not here to support DT. I am here because I want the person(s) responsible for her murder brought to justice. If there is some evidence that DT was involved, by all means I want to know it. I've said from the start that I have formed the opinion that DT probably wasn't involved, but am open to changing that if some new evidence is put out there. IMO (and I'm not directing this at you, but in general) people make themselves feel better when something like this happens by justifying all the ways it would never happen to them because they are a "better" parent. Stats tell us that abductions are an extremely rare occurence (about 115 per year in country), and that perps prey on vulnerability, whether that is a child walking home from school, to a friend's home, a park, or any other activity that a child this age routinely does. The Sheriff himself said that a child had not been missing this long in this area in 20+ years. IMO, that indicates a pretty low risk to allow a child to walk home. Since Somer disappeared, I've seen people blame DT, LE, the school district, and DCF. Nobody could have predicted this.
