Something That Made Me Feel Good About It.

It was about six years ago I had the opportunity to advocate for a young mother and her six children to find housing. She was a victim of Domestic Violence that’s how we came to know one another. She didn’t have anywhere to go with her children and finding housing was very hard. Due to the nature of her case we had to try every resource that was given to us. It seemed like the leads we’d get were useless. Some days I would stay late after work trying to find resource with no avail. My client was afraid that The Department of Children and Family Services would step in and remove her children from her.

Then one day I was talking with another one of my co-workers about my case and she said that she might have something that might possibly help. That was music to my ears. It was nearing Thanksgiving and I wanted my client to have a good holiday. I followed up with the lead that was given to me. I spoke with a service provider, his name was Mr. B, and he said that he didn’t have anything at that time. He said to call back in a week, so I did, but he was out on vacation for two week. That made me so MAD! I kept calling once a week and one day I spoke to a lady named Sue. She asked how could she help, I gave her a history of my client and how many children were involved.  She asked how large of an apartment would she need. I told her, and she said that they may have something coming up soon. That made me so HAPPY!!! I screamed in the phone. I was happy for my family. Sue didn’t say that she could get the apartment, but when I finished she was convinced that my client needed that apartment.  I had a hard time finding housing for this family. Being a go-between in the system of bureaucracy made me realize that the system can be challenged. 

Sheila