When Merriah Sample was 21 years old, she found herself a new mother in an abusive relationship looking for a better life for herself and her daughter.
She had grown up in the foster care system since she was 14 and aged out of the program. She had no resources to fall back on and decided to call Kent Youth and Family Services to see if they might give her number to others as a potential roommate.
Instead she got an interview with the program manager for the agency’s Watson Manor Transitional Living Program.
It was a chance meeting that would turn her life around.
Seventeen years later, Sample has a master’s degree from the University of Washington in social work, is an elementary school counselor and is married with two children.
“It (Watson Manor) gave me an opportunity to get an education and become self-sufficient; I won’t need any type of assistance now,” said Sample.
This is important to her, she says, coming from her original family who always seemed to need public assistance. Sample is able to give her children the kind of life she didn’t have growing up.
It is due in part to “people believing in me and supporting me and being like a surrogate family for me,” she said.
This is just one story from the program that’s been around since 1991.
“I always try to tell myself and the staff we’re planting seeds,” said Laurie Peterson, the teen and parent program manager for Kent Youth and Family Services. “We may never even see them germinate, let alone blossom.”
It’s really cool when they hear back from clients like Sample, who have gone on to do great things, she said.
The journey isn’t easy for the young adult and teenage homeless mothers the program serves.
With 10 apartment units, including two additional units for on-site staff, Watson Manor houses mothers ages 16-25 who have unborn babies to elementary age children.
“They come to us with a constellation of issues including substance abuse, mental health issues,” said Peterson. “Often they have co-occurring disorders, meaning they are diagnosed with both. They may be fleeing domestic violence or have it in their past. They may have special needs around learning disabilities. They might have a record or an open CPS (Child Protective Services) case.”
Some could also be street-involved with gangs or prostitution, Peterson said.
Watson Manor’s clientele has changed during its existence and so has the prevalence of teenage pregnancy.
When the program started the young moms were just women who found themselves in bad situations, but without all the risk factors and bad experiences of today’s young moms, said Michael Heinisch, agency executive director.
“That reality is long gone,” he said. “These are young moms who are highly damaged, who have no structure, who certainly have no idea about how to raise a child, or manage a family, and, they’re homeless.”
The program serves about 12 families per year and residents are allowed to stay up to two years.
Although teen birth rates are down in this country, the rate is still high in South King County, Heinisch said.
“If you are 16 or 17 and you had a throw-away childhood, you’ve been victimized your whole life, you’ve been on the streets, you were gang-involved, you were in and out of juvenile court, you didn’t finish high school – the chances of you being homeless are probably pretty good,” he said.
That’s who Watson Manor typically sees these days.
Residents have to participate in 20 hours of school or work a week and abide by rules, including a curfew.
Some residents chafe under the rules and structure the program enforces and stabilization becomes the most challenging aspect of their transition.
“(It) doesn’t happen often, but any family you lose is a family you lose for another generation or two, considering the kids,” said Heinisch.
Watson Manor has an 80 percent goal for women to complete the program and move into permanent housing and they always meet or exceed that goal, said Peterson.
Watson Manor is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, partially through state money managed by King County, funds from the city of Kent, United Way and private donations.
For more information visit www.kyfs.org/watsonmanor.html.
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