Child-care issues are an impossible challenge for Army moms and dads

On Nov. 6, Specialist Alexis Hutchinson was arrested. Hutchinson, 21, had arrived back on her military base in Savannah, Ga., just a week earlier with her 10-month-old son, Kamani, in tow. This was not a happy trip. She'd been home in Oakland, Calif., on leave, where her mother, Angelique Hughes, broke the bad news: It wasn't working out.

Kamani's dad isn't involved in the child's life, and Hughes had agreed to keep the baby for a year while Hutchinson joined her unit, headed toward Afghanistan. But Hughes is already caring for an ailing mother and sister, a special-needs daughter, and up to 14 children during the day in an in-home day care. Kamani was one responsibility too many.