Bridges to Housing: Breaking the Cycle
Illustration by Molly Pfeil
Imagine coming from a series of broken homes, left emotionally and psychologically scarred from your childhood, abandoned by your family, jumping from foster home to foster home. In such an unforgiving world, you turn to drugs as your only escape as you enter into adulthood with no home, no income, and no support from family.
When you find out that you are going to be a parent, you know you would do anything for your child to save them from the life you have lived. That was the situation Cindy found herself in before finding FrontLine Service’s Bridges to Housing program.
Experiencing homelessness and struggling with drug addiction, Cindy knew she wanted more for her child than she had growing up and that she couldn’t raise a child in the conditions she lived in. But the path to giving her child a better life was a difficult one she couldn’t go alone. That’s why she was grateful to meet Kimberly, a staff member of the Bridges to Housing Program which assists young adults facing homelessness.
With Kimberly’s help, Cindy started gathering more resources before her delivery, including diapers, food stamps, and applying for Medicaid. When her son was born, happy and healthy, Cindy felt inner peace and hope for the future. She knew – now, more than ever – that she’d do anything for her son.
But immediately after delivery, Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) officials took emergency custody of her son. That same day, after hours of labor, Cindy went with Kimberly directly from the hospital to the office of the DCFS to find some form of solution.
DCFS explained they took emergency custody due to her evidence of drug addiction, her lack of permanent housing, and the father of her child having untreated mental health issues. However, they offered her a path to reclaim custody.
On the spot, Cindy agreed to receive treatment for drug addiction and work towards finding permanent housing, as well as asking her husband to seek treatment through FrontLine. Because Cindy didn’t have a driver’s license, Kimberly offered to drive her and attend court dates, her weekly baby visitations, and scheduled meetings with DCFS to advocate for herself and her family. The couple even went above and beyond their required actions and attended parenting classes to be better prepared for their child.
After months of hard, relentless work to break chemical dependence, the couple graduated from their drug treatment programs and received permanent public housing. Cindy’s visitations grew longer as well, going from one-hour supervised visitations to unsupervised overnight visits. In that time, Cindy bonded with her son and eventually was granted full custody.
Today, Cindy has a home with her husband and son and control over her dependence on drugs and her PTSD. Cindy now plans to resume her education and obtain her driver’s license. The small family also has hopes to move to their own home where they will live a life Cindy could only dream about just a few short years ago. Now, her son will never experience the life she had, thanks to Cindy’s strong will and intensive assistance from FrontLine Service.
This story is based on true events with names, images, and identifying information changed to protect the identity of the individual.