Youth Stories

“When Angel and I were on the street, it made me feel shame. I never imagined being in this situation and I felt the pain of not being able to care for my baby. Most days I cried as I held my child, and tried to get myself together for her sake. Finally an employee at the city shelter system told me about Covenant House and that was my first glimpse of hope.”

“Life was pretty normal for me until around age 8 when I found out my dad wasn’t my biological dad and that my biological dad was dead. I can’t say why I started acting out or not following rules at home after that. But it happened and the older I got, the more dangerous my decisions got. At 14, I nearly died in a serious car accident doing things that I shouldn’t have been doing. Even though my dad rallied around me I still was ungrateful. At 15, I was about to become a father, and shortly after that I was locked up. I spent 4 long years behind bars. But I vowed to myself that when I got out things would be different.”