Head Start Heals: Beginning Again

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Missy: My name is Missy, and I am a bilingual home visitor with Early Head Start, and I work mainly with refugees from Burma and Thailand. Lily was referred into our program about three years ago, and this was my first time working with a refugee family that was also dealing with homelessness.

I guess my first interaction with mom, she seemed a little bit taken aback, and I knew that she was just stressed. The language barrier is a big issue. Lack of education is another one, but she just needed someone to make her believe in herself again, so I needed to hold out hope for her. You know, I asked her, "If you could change one thing about your family right now, what would it be?" And she said, "I want a place of my own and for my children to feel safe and secure and that they're home."

And so, we decided to work with other agencies within the community, and I was able to work with the family; filled out an application for public housing. You know, we had to be very vigilant with keeping up with documents, and at my visit, I would look at letters for her and explain to her what she needed to turn in. After almost a whole year of waiting, the family received a letter that there's an opening, and they finally had a house of their own. That was a proud moment for her and the whole family.

You know, when I first started, I didn't know what Early Head Start is all about. I literally thought I'd just go into a home and talk to their parents about this lesson. But it's a lot more than that.

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