The trauma of family homelessness

Last week we had a family come to the Centre for the first time. Let’s call them Daniel, Shelley and Troy. Daniel and his wife Shelley are a young Australian family, with one young child named Troy aged 6 and a family dog.

Daniel and Shelley worked hard to support their family and both worked together in the same cleaning business. Unfortunately, they were made redundant as the business wasn’t going so well.

They had a little bit of money in the bank and received a small redundancy. But life as they knew it was turned upside down.

They applied for job after job and days turned into weeks with no employment. With no income they were no longer able to pay the rent and the family was evicted from their home without a place to go.

With mounting debts and no relatives to turn to they had no choice but to live in their car with their belongings. One of their friends said they could leave some of their belongings in a shed, but they could not stay with them as they had no room.

Daniel struggled to provide even the basics for his family like food and petrol to drive his son to school. Things were getting harder and harder and the family was losing all hope.

We contacted another agency to see who was able to assist us in supporting this family. One agency said they had a room that Shelley and Troy could move into immediately. It was at a women's shelter on a temporary basis. Their child was getting sick from being in the cold and they made the hard decision to separate for a short time.

The accommodation agency continued to look for crisis accommodation for Daniel, while also searching for a home for the whole family.

During this distressing time, Daniel didn't want his son to know the truth of why they didn’t have a house anymore. Daniel told Troy that they were having a holiday with Mummy, while their house was getting fixed.

They meet up every day to eat breakfast together in a local park near Troy’s school. With the help from others the family are doing everything they can to improve their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. They desperately want to overcome the trauma of homelessness and start smiling again.

We would like to thank all our supporters for all your support during our Winter Appeal which continues throughout Winter.

Your support is pivotal in assisting families in the ACT. We could not do what we are doing without you. So again, thank you from the SJC team!

Kind regards

Jason Haines

Programs and Fundraising Manager

Items required: tinned fruit, Vegemite and peanut butter, jam and biscuits.

#homeless #family