(CNN) Chris Rachford's 15-month-old daughter, Harper, was born prematurely and needs a ventilator at home to breathe, not to mention numerous doctor's appointments to thrive.

Harper spent more than 300 days at a hospital before being released in August to her family's Kentucky home. Her mother, Allie McKinney, quit her job as a social worker to care for her.

McKinney and Rachford thought they could rely on Rachford's salary as a data processing assistant for the Internal Revenue Service. But he's working without pay because of the partial federal government shutdown -- and he has new anxieties about how he's going to care for his daughter properly if it stretches on.

Rachford was last paid December 31, and he's about to miss his second check. The family estimates they have a month's worth of money left.

Rachford voted for President Donald Trump but now blames him for the shutdown.

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