Local families who have relied on extra income over the last few months will no longer be able to get it as the monthly Child Tax Credit expired Friday.

Tatiana Monteiro is a single working mother who works at the Hall Neighborhood House in Bridgeport. She helps 250 parents with their financial stresses.

"The child tax credit has been an amazing help for families, especially for single-family households," said Monteiro.

That benefit for Monteiro and so many others ended Friday.

"We don't have another source of income, and especially for families who don't qualify for any additional state assistance," she said.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro says the last six months have proven the Child Tax Credit works.

"In Connecticut, 26% of kids were left behind before we moved to improve and expand the Child Tax Credit," said DeLauro. "These families are going to be thrown back into financial insecurity, food insecurity and yes, poverty."

DeLauro was joined Friday on a Zoom call by New Haven mother of four Tiquanda Newton, who now has to tell her children she can't afford to buy the essentials they need.

"On top of it, they're growing so their appetite is so big that it's like how do I keep them so full without being broke?" said Newton.

DeLauro says she will fight for the passage of the president's Build Back Better Act to provide some relief.

"We cannot give up the fight, so now more than ever we have to keep the pressure up," said DeLauro.

Mothers like Monteiro say the loss of that income now adds even more stress with rising prices and inflation.

Last year, over 100,000 children in DeLauro's district alone benefited from the expanded Child Tax Credit.