Our Family

At 14, Hector was removed from his parents' home for neglect and physical and emotional abuse.  He moved in with a foster family and before long began testing them.  His temper and misbehavior kept escalating, and finally the family asked DCF to take him away.  After a relatively calm stay at a youth shelter, he was offered a place at Forbes House for a fresh start.  

Soon he started testing again.  He lashed out at staff members, refused to do his chores, stayed in his room.  His grades suffered.  But the staff was as stubborn as Hector.  They wouldn’t give up.  Little by little he saw that this family could be trusted.  He always knew where he stood with them; he knew they wouldn’t let him go.  They, in turn, realized that he needed time to himself and helped him find special spaces in the house to call his own.  More settled, he began to befriend the other boys in the house.  He was elected president of the House Council and then the Group Home Youth Board.  His grades went up. And last summer he landed two jobs, putting extra money in a savings account. 

This past January Hector left Forbes House to move into an apartment at Umoja House.  The day he left, he excitedly ran to the program manager with a letter in hand.  Smiling from ear to ear, he handed her the letter.  He had been accepted into a Massachusetts college.  He begins this September!

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Karen longed for a family. After her mom died of AIDS, she lived with a succession of relatives and foster families. None gave her the stability she needed. She ended up in a residential treatment center and then at one of our programs. But Karen still missed having a ‘real’ family. She ran away to an aunt in South Carolina, hoping to be accepted and loved. Unfortunately, she wasn’t that easy to live with and soon wore out her welcome. Karen headed back north, hung out with the old crowd, and hustled for money. Then one night, as she walked through a park, she was the victim of a drive-by shooting. She had hit rock bottom.

During a visit to a doctor, Karen ran into a staff member she knew from Youth Continuum. The staff member, now at Umoja House, gave Karen a business card. Several months later Karen showed up, homeless. Having no room, Umoja House referred her to a women’s shelter and worked with her while she waited for an opening. When Karen finally moved in, things were good at first. But then she started testing all the rules. Given one last chance, Karen completely turned her poor behavior around.

Within a year she finished high school and was accepted by Benedict College in South Carolina. Last summer the staff drove Karen to school and she has since successfully completed her first year. She regularly calls staff members and refers to them as “the family I never had.”

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Keesha became a parent at age fourteen. Not to a baby, but to her schizophrenic mother. When her situation became too difficult, Keesha moved briefly to a shelter and then a foster home. At seventeen she learned about CHAP and saw it as the way to an education and a career.

She entered CHAP with the goal of getting her degree and buying a car. But it was harder than she thought. She barely managed to get to classes, to work, and to save money. And she learned the hard way about friendship. Her friends asked her to be the lookout during a night of vandalism and she said yes. It was an expensive lesson, costing her an arrest record, court dates, and restitution payments. Fortunately her CHAP case manager stayed right by her side. And Keesha began to see what friendship could be.

Keesha will receive her Bachelor’s Degree this year. She’s developed a good relationship with her mother who is now in school, too. She has that car. And she has her independence – her apartment now has her own name on the lease.

Recently Keesha sent her case manage a card: “Thank you for pushing me. Without your encouragement and guidance I don’t think I would be where I am today. I will never forget how much you helped me over the years. You are appreciated more than you realize.”

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Jamal is 18 years old and still living at Uno House. He decided to stay an extra year to make sure he was ready to live on his own, and because Uno had become his ‘home.’ At his age he’s given a lot of freedom there. He’s a freshman in college and needs private time to study. He’s proud of his grade point average and wants to keep it up. And he likes spending time at school, playing basketball and working on their computers.

It wasn’t always like this for Jamal. Abused at home when he was young, he became abusive toward his younger brothers and sisters. He was sent away to two residential treatment centers. At sixteen he was arrested and charged for the earlier abuse of his siblings. He was still in an outpatient treatment program when he came to Uno House. It was clear that he wanted to start over. He asked for help and the staff worked with him and his counselors.

Jamal is now a responsible, independent young man. But he still likes the comfort and safety of Uno House when he feels faced with an obstacle, such as a job interview that inquires about his police record. Soon he will move into Youth Continuum’s transitional living program and hopes to transfer to the University of Connecticut. He plans to call home regularly.

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Sam was always the timid one. Removed from his family due to abuse and neglect, he eventually found a home at Uno House. Sam's been participating in programs at the MacMullen Center for Education Training & Enrichment for the past several months. Initially, his shyness got the best of him and he showed little interest in the Center and its offerings. But after attending a hip hop literacy workshop, his attitude changed.

To date, he hasn’t missed any of the continuing workshops unless it’s been for a doctor’s appointment or other important meeting. He comes to the sessions prepared and on time. At the start of the workshop each student was given a journal for recording their poems and essays. Sam writes in his journal both in and outside of class. He's so excited about his writings that he shares them with everyone in the van during the ride to the MacMullen Center. He's found a creative outlet for expressing himself. He is emerging from his shell and connecting to and inspiring many around him.

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