Family Stories

Every day families come to the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery seeking safe shelter and care for their children. Sometimes they are facing extreme crises like homeless or domestic violence. Sometimes they just need a break from the stress of parenting under difficult circumstances.

Here are stories of a few of the families that recently found help at VBCN:

Mikey, 4; Dilon, 3: Mikey and Dilon’s older brother has health issues and was admitted to the hospital this morning. Mom needs to stay at the hospital with the boys’ older brother and does not have reliable child care to watch the younger children.  Mikey and Dilon will be spending the next few days at the Nursery so mom can be with her older son while he recuperates.

Natalie, 4: Natalie’s mom is taking college classes and working full-time. She called today to see if we could take Natalie for the night as she was very stressed out, had no support system, and needed to catch up on homework. Mom had an overnight babysitter lined up; however the sitter canceled last minute. We were able to care for Natalie to allow mom to catch up on school and have a break.

Tommy, 6; Logan, 4; Summer, 15 months; Kayla, 15 months: The children’s mom separated from their alcoholic father six months ago and has been raising the children on her own. Mom called to see if we could care for the children so she could get a good night’s sleep.

Lindsey, 24 months: Lindsey’s mom was not comfortable with Lindsey’s current childcare provider.  We cared for Lindsey for a few hours so Mom could look for new permanent childcare for Lindsey.

Angie, 6; Nikki, 4: The girls’ parents have to be moved out of their apartment by the end of the day.  The move is taking much longer then expected with the girls; so mom and dad contacted us to care for Angie and Nikki. The girls spent the rest of the day and overnight at the Nursery so mom and dad could finish moving out of their apartment and into the new one.

Dylan, 6 months: The furnace is broken at Dylan’s house and it is very cold outside. Dylan’s dad called to see if Dylan could spend the night at the Nursery while he fixes the heating problem.

Jacob, 5; Taylor, 4: The boys’ family is currently homeless and has been staying with friends. The parents are having trouble finding housing and do not have friends they can stay with for the night. Jacob and Taylor spent the night at the Nursery so mom and dad could find a place to live.

David, 11 months: David’s grandmother had a heart attack and is in the hospital. Mom would like to spend a few hours with grandmother; however has no one to watch David as he cannot visit grandma while she is in the ICU. We cared for David for a few hours while Mom visited grandma.

Sarah, 30 months: Sarah’s mom is pregnant and is in preterm labor and needs to go to the hospital. Sarah stayed at the Nursery so Mom could go to the hospital to be checked out and make sure the baby was okay.

Frankie, 3; Jamie, 15 months: Mom is very sick with the flu and cannot adequately care for the boys. We took Frankie and Jamie for the next few days so mom could rest and recuperate.