Melissa H

Melissa is twenty-seven and the mother of three children. Her oldest son receives SSI for multiple disorders, including Failure to Thrive. Melissa’s Food Stamps, cash assistance and medical insurance were recently cut off due to a paperwork error at the Welfare office, and so this month Melissa is struggling to feed her children and has to borrow money from friends. Melissa was recently evicted from her HUD apartment because of a personality clash with a neighbor, so she has now moved back home with her mother and siblings. She tries to stay positive about the eviction and reasons that this was a chance to get her family out of a dangerous neighborhood—she has witnessed several shootings and violent altercations on her block and on her son’s way to school. 

Melissa has survived a violent childhood—she was beaten and sexually abused by her father and then placed in foster care after she told school authorities about her abuse at home. The foster home that she ended up in was worse; she was abused by her guardian and raped by an older child over a period of several years. Melissa is raising her three children on her own because their fathers either turned violent or became addicted to drugs and she receives no financial support from them. Since her youngest son was born she has been able to provide for her children with her income from Welfare and SSI, but when we spoke to her Melissa’s Food Stamps and medical insurance had been cut off. She has completed CNA training and is looking for a job in that field, but her job search is limited by the fact that her son was kicked out of his daycare and she can’t find any openings at daycares that accept CCIS vouchers.