Melody, Paige and Christopher are in their very own apartment. They became homeless on January 7, 2011. Four months wandering the streets by day, sleeping in a crowded shelter filled with 60 homeless men each night.
Trust me they did not enjoy themselves.When I first saw Mel and the kids standing outside Grace episcopal Church in downtown Oak Park, IL. I was certain they would not be back the next night. Surely there would be some place for them to go beside a temporary shelter system?
The system could not find a place for them. It was obvious after I got to know them that "we" had to make something happen or, come summer, they would, literally, be sleeping on the street.
I directed Mel to mental health services available through Thrive Counseling Center in Oak Park. I knew, from my experience as a patient there, they might have a way to get them housing. I assumed that Thrive would quickly find them a place because of Chris, who is 10 and has autism. It did not go down that way at all, but thankfully, the awesome people at Thrive did get an apartment lined up for them. Too bad it took four long, hard months, but such is life I suppose.
Let's face it: if you do not have someone advocating for you, well, you are fucked. Especially if you have to try to provide for your homeless children, getting them to and from school on time each day among many other things.
The system is not designed to get people a place to live, which is insane because you could house every homeless person in an apartment for a year, especially if you doubled them up, for less than it costs to feed and house them in a shelter for the same time period.
*Update, if anyone has a line on resources for beds for the kids they would really appreciate not having to sleep on the floor.
**Update 2, Fran Held the super hero extraordinaire from the Mitzvah Circle Foundation spoke with Melody, she will be sender all kinds of essential items needed for her new apartment. I look forward to hearing what exactly is being sent. Stay tuned.
Reprinted by permission www.imfromnothing.com
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