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New housing designed to support young moms in foster care opens in the Bronx
By
Karen Yi
Published Jun 3, 2024
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Photo by Karen Yi
By
Karen Yi
Published Jun 3, 2024
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A New York City foster care provider is trying a novel approach to help the young moms in its care: housing them under one roof in apartments equipped with washer-dryer machines and where they can access support staff 24 hours a day.
The New York Foundling recently opened a brand new building complex on a quiet residential street in the Bronx that will house 18 young moms between 14 and 21 years old and their infants and toddlers. Moms already under the nonprofit's care began moving into the pair of shared apartment buildings two weeks ago, where staff members can help them with child care, feeding their children or cooking — all in one place.
The organization said its ultimate goal is to help young moms learn to live on their own when they age out of foster care. The new side-by-side buildings will allow the Foundling to expand its mother and child program that works with young moms. Organizers hope their new approach can be a model for others.
More than 6,000 children and young people are in the city’s foster care system, with about 80 young moms in the city’s care, according to the Administration for Children’s Services. But as teens and young adults age out of the foster care system at 21 years old, they’re facing an increasingly tight housing market with the city’s overall vacancy rate at its lowest point since the 1960s and rents rising faster than wages. The debut of the program comes as the city is also investing in more career and education training for foster youth.
“Housing is a fundamental basic need. And we don't think about supportive housing necessarily for a young woman in foster care,” said Melanie Hartzog, the Foundling's CEO and president.
But Hartzog — who was previously a deputy mayor overseeing the city’s social service agencies — said young moms in foster care make up a small percentage of all children and adolescents in the system but have very specialized needs.
“To be able to give stability to a 16-year-old mom in foster care with other peer supports, moms who are also in foster care, who are pregnant or parenting, that is a very powerful model,” Hartzog said.
Last month, nine young moms and their children moved into one of the new buildings in the Bronx's Castle Hill neighborhood. All were living in scattered apartments in another part of the Bronx within a much larger complex that housed other residents, not just young moms in foster care.
Each apartment has three bedrooms and was designed for three moms and their kids to live in, with a Foundling staff member to work on site. Their brand-new rooms are equipped with a twin bed, a spacious closet, a crib and a rocking chair and their kitchens have new appliances, as well as a dishwasher.
“That's a game-changer when you're a parent,” Hartzog said.
Late last month, Safia Dixon, 15, came home from school to spend her first night in her new apartment. She marveled at the colorful rocking chair, the brand new lamps and the sense of calm outside her window.
“This looks like the apartments the TikTok people be having,” Dixon said as she held her 14-month-old daughter. “This looks fancy. And when I seen the kitchen, I'm like, ‘Oh, OK, it's fancy.’”
Dixon has been in foster care for about two years and said she found out she was pregnant the day she was placed in the city’s care. But she said being a mom changed her outlook on life.
“Now, I have a motivation, I have someone to encourage me. Then, I really didn't care. I really didn't care about anyone,” Dixon said. “Now, I have someone that I have to actually take care of. Someone I have to give my all.”
Young moms in foster care often have a hard time navigating the system or finding ways to transition to independent housing, foster care providers said. Others have difficulty finding placement in care and need to be relocated once they have their babies.
Hartzog said with the two side-by-side buildings, the Foundling will be able to double its mother and child program’s size and welcome new moms struggling in other parts of the foster system who are referred to them by the Administration for Children’s Services, which funds foster care services.
Last year, the organization’s program helped a majority of the young moms in their care keep custody of their children, attend GED classes, secure jobs and move out on their own, according to organizers.
Hartzog said the buildings will help create community among the young parents in what can often be a lonely journey without their families, and that she hopes it's a model for others in the city.
“You're not alone. You're supported not only by the Foundling, but other moms who look just like you and are in the situation that you're in. And I think that's a powerful combination,” Hartzog said. She’s also volunteered to teach a cooking class for the girls.
The Foundling, which funded the building’s construction with ACS, can also control the maintenance and upkeep of the units. There’s also a backyard and a community room on the first floor for trainings and celebrations.
“I'm hoping that this will bring everybody together because before we were scattered in different apartments, here we'll be in one building,” Aranis Galindez, assistant vice president of the mother and child program.
Dixon said that the building she previously lived in, which was older and not properly maintained, never felt like home. But she’s hoping that will change.
She wants to decorate her daughter’s side of the room with large letters spelling her name and make it beautiful with LED lights. On her side of the room, she said she might hang up her honor roll and principal’s list awards.
“I'm comfortable that my baby can grow up and as she grows, she's in a safe, clean place,” Dixon said.
Safia Dixon, 15, and her daughter, seeing their brand new apartment for the first time earlier this year.
Photo courtesy of The New York Foundling.
Tagged
new york city
economy
housing
the bronx
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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