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We Are Here: Janell Roberts on Lydia’s House, Foster Care, and True and Kind Love [communitycommons.org]

 

Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Stacy Wegley. | When we arrived at Lydia’s House, we found a scene familiar to new parents: Janell Roberts was making a sandwich in the kitchen, hoping to eat a quick meal while her infant slept in a nearby room. She chewed a little quicker as her baby fussed, then gratefully accepted our offers to hold her daughter so that she could eat with two hands. Her daughter was at the developmental stage – with impossibly tiny toes and fuzzy hair – when gentle swaying worked best to soothe her cries.

Lydia’s House is, briefly, a home. It is a wooden swing and strollers on a front porch; worn floral couches in the living room; chatter in the kitchen and tea brewing for guests; a long dining table with eclectic seats and high chairs for kids; children’s books stacked on a low bookshelf. It is also a women’s shelter, one that allows women and kids to find community, safe housing, and extra hands in times of crisis.

For Janell Roberts, Lydia’s House was the place where she could bring her newborn home until she finds longer-term, affordable housing. We talked to her about her experiences with foster care, homelessness and shelters, and her hopes for life with her newborn daughter, Rhyale.

[For more on this story by Andrea Waner, go to https://www.communitycommons.o...ere-janell-roberts/?]

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