Being a first responder is hard. Being a parent is hard. Being a single parent and first responder is almost impossible. First responders work varying shifts and schedules, when most Americans are at home with their families. Every first responder will, at some point in their career, spend time working evenings, nights, overnights, weekends and holidays.
Single parents have to rely on family or friends for childcare in most cases, if they have such resources, as finding a sitter who will work 11pm-7am, or Saturday from 3pm-11pm, or noon to midnight on Thanksgiving day is nigh impossible.
Couple this difficulty in finding available coverage with the outlandish cost of childcare itself, and if a parent IS able to find childcare, they’re easily paying a quarter of their take home pay (or likely more) simply to keep their kids safe while trying to put food on the table and keep their community safe as well.