Coming Full Circle: A Case Worker Finds Her Home

Everything was going right in Jazmin’s life. She had graduated from Pine Manor College with a degree in Social and Political Systems and she was in a steady and supportive relationship. Shortly after graduating college, Jazmin became pregnant with her daughter Amaya. Together, they were a happy family of three, but then Amaya’s father started getting into trouble – serious trouble.

Jazmin had to make the tough decision to leave her relationship. She wanted to give Amaya the best life possible and she knew in order to do that they would need to start over alone.

They moved in with Jazmin’s mother where the only place for them to sleep was on the floor of an enclosed sun porch. They stayed there for a year but eventually had to move out. After that, they stayed with Amaya’s grandmother for a while, but eventually, they had to leave there too.

At this time, a friend of Jazmin’s mother reached out. She owned a boarding house and offered Jazmin and Amaya a room in the basement rent free. They moved into the boarding house and Jazmin decorated the room to feel cozy and warm. She started to save up money and began planning a future for her and Amaya.

One night, while lying in bed, Jazmin heard the doorknob to their room start to shake. It was late at night and Amaya was asleep. Looking back on that night, Jazmin remembers, “I was scared, but my instincts to protect my daughter took over. I opened the door and confronted a drunk man trying to break into my room. The entire boarding house woke up and the man was kicked out, but it was in that moment that I knew we couldn’t keep doing this. I needed to do whatever I could to protect my daughter.”

That is when Jazmin came to FamilyAid Boston. At the time, Jazmin was working as a case worker for families involved with the Department of Child and Family Services. She was helping her clients find shelter, apply to colleges, get jobs, and apply for food stamps. There was one day in particular when Jazmin was sitting in the Department of Transitional Assistance helping her client fill out their application when she realized she needed to fill out this application for herself too. No one at Jazmin’s job knew she was homeless, yet every day she went to work helping young mothers facing the same challenges that she was.

After spending 10 months in FamilyAid Boston’s shelter program, the agency helped Jazmin move into a brand-new apartment in Jamaica Plain. She has lived there for three years and in the last year had a second daughter, Ella, with her fiancé.

Around the same time, Jazmin was promoted to a program coordinator role at work where she built a program called Young Parent Support and partnered with FamilyAid to help some of the other families that were in their shelter.

Jazmin has continued to work helping young mothers and wants to show them that life can get better.

“I want to help other people that are going through what I went through. I try and model my interactions with my clients after how Vanessa, my case manager at FamilyAid Boston, interacted with me.

FamilyAid Boston didn’t just help me, they helped ensure Amaya and Ella have a place to call home where they can grow and play.”