Colleen Homan lives with her three daughters and opens her home to other relatives who need a place to stay, because she says, “You can’t turn your back on people.” Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, in a home with a single mom and six siblings, Colleen’s life was rough at times. She changed schools often and left high school in the eleventh grade. With a child to support, Colleen went to work at a screen printing plant. Now there are three girls, ages nine, seven, and two. While the father of Shania, the youngest, helps with her needs, the older children receive no child support.
Presently Colleen works as a medical assistant in a pulmonary medicine clinic and hopes to soon upgrade her position by going back to school at night. She depends on Medicaid for her children, an important assistance since Shania has been hospitalized with asthma attacks four times in two years. The only other government assistance comes from the GRCMA program that pays for child care while she works. Colleen says, “There are times we do without a lot, like new clothes and stuff like that, because I wouldn’t ask for help when I probably could have.” But she prizes her independence. Her biggest challenge is “making sure everybody is happy and comfortable,” and her hopes are similar to those of most folks: “owning my own home, making sure my kids go to school, stuff like that.”
