Across Alabama and the United States, finding child care can be hard. Paying for it can be harder, especially as cost of living increases.

High-quality, licensed child care providers are hard to come by. The average monthly cost for an infant in a child care center is about $500, and can cost about as much over the course of the year as college tuition. Many families struggle to find any local options at all, impacting parents’ ability to work.

This year, AL.com will be exploring some of the challenges of finding and providing child care in the state.

To start, we want to hear from parents and other caregivers whose work lives have been affected.

Tell the Ed Lab about the impact of the cost of child care on your family.

Have child care costs and availability caused you to stop working? Quit school? Turn down a promotion? Stop pursuing your dream job? Stay in a job you hate? Pick up and move?

Share your experiences with us below— and tell us what other aspects of the child care crisis we should investigate.