Alex and Teo's Story For the first time in years, Alex, Teo and their mom have their own place to call home.

Often it takes the persistent and combined efforts of clinical staff, family, and extra services supported by donors like you to finally bring a child and their family to health, safety, healing, and a hopeful future.

For Alex and Teo, the long journey began when their mother, Ana, moved them out of their home where there was a history of domestic violence with their father. That was the first step toward safety, but it was to be many years before they were safely in a home of their own again.

Alex was first referred to EMQ FamiliesFirst when Ana was arrested for burglary. He and his brother were allowed to stay with their maternal grandmother while their mom worked on serving her jail term and regaining custody. After that, the boys went with their mom to a shelter for women and children of domestic violence.

Soon, however, Alex and Teo were referred to foster care. Ana could only find housing with her pregnant daughter and then her son’s family where the conditions were rundown and overcrowded.

In contrast, Alex and Teo were placed with a foster family that lived in a very wealthy home which the boys described as a mansion. With their physical needs met and their shelter and safety ensured, Alex and Teo still only thought of being reunited with their mom.

After more than a year, they got their wish. Alex and Teo were able to live with Ana again, but this began a series of moves and disrupted living situations. They stayed with friends when they could or found shelters, but those arrangements were always for a limited time. Sometimes they had to just stay a night or two in a motel.

As a result, both boys had difficulty making and sustaining friendships. Life in the shelters is never easy and the boys were sometimes victims of bullying by older children.  They never had a place to store belongings and a few times they were not able to retrieve what they did have when they were asked to vacate another residence.

One home where a friend took them in was out of the county, but Ana wanted to avoid moving the boys yet again from their school. She would drive them each morning, then stay all day at a nearby park and pick them up at the end of the school day. This routine became impossible to maintain so Alex and Teo changed schools again. Alex changed schools five times in one year because of the moves and because they needed to find a school that could meet his special needs.

While their lives were in upheaval, the one constant was the care and support provided by EMQ FamiliesFirst. Our clinician followed the boys and family to shelters, homes and schools and provided individual and family counseling as well as remaining active with each school staff to ease the transition between schools. This was especially important as they searched for the best school situation to serve Alex’s needs.  

More stability was added to Alex and Teo’s lives by enriching them with community events and summer camps. Because of your donations they had outings to the Children’s Discovery Museum, beaches, libraries, canoeing, a tour of San Jose State University and much more. Your generosity also provided food, clothing and sometimes a night in a motel to help sustain the family.

Our staff helped Ana find residential services and get housing referrals. We connected with an anonymous donor who helped pay the legal costs to clear Ana’s criminal record. This opened the door to more housing and employment possibilities.

The really good news came in the fall. Through Home Safe and Next Door (an agency that assists families of domestic violence), a shared housing arrangement became available. While the home is shared with others, at last the boys and their mom would have their own room and bathroom.  

The best part was that there was no time limit on this housing. It meant that Ana could look for work and save money without a time pressure.

It also meant that for the first time in years, Alex and Teo could be safe in their own home. Better still, they were able to move just in time for the holidays. Your donations provided a tree and decorations. As in recent years, you also provided gifts for the family.

It was the first time since they were little boys that Alex and Teo could remember their mom cooking a holiday meal for them and that they had a sense of being a family together.

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Confidentiality of EMQ FamiliesFirst children and families has been preserved
through the use of models. Some stories may be composites of multiple cases.