When her mom started dating again, Sabrina was initially pleased: she could see how happy this man made her mother, who had been depressed since her father left them. However, Sabrina realized very quickly that her mother’s new boyfriend was not a good person: he and Sabrina did not get along at all, and [...]

When Javier was in 6th grade, his mother was deported under Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law. A few months later, after moving to Tucson to live with his father, the unexpected occurred: Javier’s father was deported, too. Although Javier was surrounded by friends and relatives, he just couldn’t seem to find stability. For several [...]

After thousands upon thousands of fights with his mother, Miles had gotten used to the abuse: it was all he had ever known. One day, he realized that he and his mother would never have the loving relationship that he longed for: she kicked him out of the house without any hesitation. Although it [...]

Peyton has known nothing but struggle and hardship from the very beginning: at a young age, she was removed from her home by the Department of Child Safety because of her mother’s substance abuse issues. She always did what she needed to do in order to survive, staying with friends and distant family members [...]

When Brandon was just 15 years old, he was kicked out of his home by his alcoholic father who didn’t want to ‘parent’ anymore. He spent some time living on the streets but quickly realized that finishing high school was the only pathway out of poverty. It was through his involvement with Sin Puertas, [...]

For most of her life, Jules has known nothing but instability: when she was just 1 year old, her father was arrested for drug trafficking and sent to prison. For many years, her mother struggled with the weight of being a single parent until one day, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore: she [...]

After Lisa was abandoned by her mother during her freshman year of high school, she spent the next few years bouncing around – from one relative to another friend every few months. Someone would take Lisa in and offer to help, only to kick her out several weeks later because they just couldn’t make [...]

“My life wasn’t easy after my parents divorced. I knew I had to grow up fast because I didn’t have the full support of either of my parents. They were barely scraping by with food assistance, and neither of them had a job. I would frequently sleep over at another family member or friend’s [...]

Mia had a happy, stable childhood in a loving, single-parent household. Then tragedy struck: her 18-year-old brother died in a car accident. She was still grieving the loss of her role model when tragedy hit again: her mother was iagnosed with terminal liver cancer. At 16, the teenager became her mother’s primary caretaker — [...]

When Justin was in middle school, his mother suddenly decided to stop being a parent: she no longer provided him with clothing, wouldn’t give him a ride to school, and verbally abused him on a daily basis. According to Justin, “I felt like I was no longer her priority and that I wasn’t important [...]