Angelica R

Child(ren): six children

Issues: Food and Hunger, Housing, Work and Child Care, Health, Environment, Violence and Trauma, Welfare & Assistance, Family, Childhood, Breaking the Cycle

Policies & Programs: Food and Nutrition, Housing & Homelessness, Education and Opportunity, Health Care

"I went through a lot of stuff, but it’s all done with. I’m all right now, so I've got to move forward, can’t go back and change everything. The thing I tell my kids is don’t make the same mistakes."

Angelica is twenty-eight and the mother of six children. Angelica rents a three-bedroom house for the seven of them and she would like to own a bigger place, but is unable to get a mortgage due to bad credit. She has been on the Section VIII waiting list for over six years and her current house is infested with cockroaches. Angelica’s landlord has done nothing to get rid of the problem and so every month she uses a harsh poison to keep the roaches at bay—the poison is so strong that just applying it makes her head and throat hurt and she worries about her children’s exposure.

Angelica receives Food Stamps but they sometimes don’t last her until the end of the month. She has been in court several times for child support and is frustrated because it doesn’t seem that the court rulings have been in favor of the child. The father of her older children physically abused Angelica for several years before she got the strength to leave him and now he refuses to help his children financially. Angelica recently started working, but her job is under the table and she relies on tips because she knows that the welfare office will cut her Food Stamp benefit if they find out she is working. She would like to go back to school to become a nurse, but because she has received welfare for several years the welfare office will not provide support for furthering her education.

View Slideshow

Angelica R

Photo Gallery