DePelchin Children's Center

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Adoption Services

Foster Care

Mental Health Services

Autism Services

Prevention Services

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Post-Adoption Services

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Meet Natalie

Meet Natalie, the 24-year-old, single mother of a ….ten-year old. Pregnant at 14, Natalie was both fortunate and unfortunate to live with her five brothers and sisters and two parents at the time of her pregnancy. Fortunate, because she had somewhere to live. Unfortunate, because both her parents were drug addicts who could scarcely – and sometimes not – cover the rent and provide for food. Once an older sister left home, Natalie was left in charge of the younger siblings. Then she became a mother herself, and her life started down the slippery slope of poverty, homelessness, and hopelessness.

But somewhere inside Natalie was the constitution of a fighter. When her mother took her to an abortion clinic, Natalie said she wanted to keep her baby; luckily, her pregnancy was too far advanced to let the baby go. When she failed the ninth grade with a newborn at home, siblings to care for, and schoolwork to do, she re-enrolled with her eye on graduation. When her mother told her to move out, she moved in with a kindly aunt. When her aunt told her she had to move out at age 18, a near-disaster ensued. But, when she contacted the social welfare system and was assigned a case worker, the case worker led her to DePelchin.

That was the turning point in her life.

In her own words, Natalie was “overwhelmed with excitement” when she entered DePelchin’s Transitional Living Program, a special service that provides food, clothing, shelter, and a future for homeless pregnant and parenting teens. Natalie and her son lived there for a year before they moved into their own apartment to see if they could make it on their own. They did, indeed.

Natalie is now employed by a commercial paint company and is the third in command, serving as staff supervisor. Taught by DePelchin how to budget, she makes good decisions about her purchases and commits a certain amount to savings from every pay check. When asked what her greatest success has been, she states that it is “not giving up.” She believes that God gave her her son for a reason. He is everything in her life, and she will make sure he graduates from high school as she did – the first in her family to do so. Once her son is more self-sufficient, Natalie plans to earn her college degree. Her future is promising, indeed.

Thanks to friends such as you, Natalie and other young mothers like her are being saved by DePelchin from the poverty, homelessness, and hopelessness so common to teenage mothers.