The young girl enters our office. Large,  dark eyes dominate her pale face. At 15  years old, Tina has endured sexual abuse,  abandonment, hunger, fear and even motherhood! In 6th and 7th grades, she was forced to stay home to care for her eight younger step-siblings. Tina’s latest step-father impregnated her when she was [...]

Robert’s life was full of violence, fighting, alcohol and substance abuse. Robert has been beaten and kicked out of his home; put out on the streets without food or shelter. When Robert applied to Youth On Their Own, he was sleeping in the park at night. He still does not have a permanent home; [...]

Monique comes from an abusive and neglectful home environment. As the oldest child of a neglectful mother, Monique was forced to grow up very fast in order to keep her family together.  Monique not only looked after her two younger siblings, but also did all the cooking and cleaning around the house. Sadly, things [...]

Armando, like many Youth On Their Own students, learned about the hardships of life at too early an age. When he was still just a boy, Armando’s father died of a drug overdose. Then at the still young age of 14, he lost his mother to an overdose of pills. Armando’s mother’s death was [...]

Like many families in America these days, Leticia’s was hit hard by the failing economy. Unable to keep up on their house payments, Leticia’s family home was foreclosed, forcing the family to move in with Leticia’s older sister, but that proved to be an unhealthy and volatile living situation for the entire family. Leticia’s [...]

As long as Tony can remember, his father has been an alcoholic, and his mother held the family together, until at the age of 15, Tony’s mother was arrested and went to prison. Tony’s world turned upside down. After his mother’s arrest, Tony’s father came home at night drunk, and spent all their rent [...]