“My life is like a Ferris wheel”. A twenty-nine year old mother, Amanda Jones struggles with addiction and mental disorders. She and her two children who live with her move from one home to another as she struggles to find a job to provide stability in her life. She recently moved back to transitional housing at FAITH, a government funded program for victims of domestic violence. This is the life she knew as a child—moving from place to place with her mother who also had problems with drugs and abusive relationships.

After getting settled into her new apartment, Amanda decorated her new place with pictures and began assuming a new life with her children enrolling them in the local school. Life was looking up. But during a relapse in judgment, she stole a prescription pad from a doctor’s office and attempted to fill it at a local pharmacy. She was arrested, booked and taken back to her apartment by police. She faces pending felony changes for forgery, possession of a controlled substance and other possible misdemeanor charges.

Forced to leave her new apartment, she has taken safe haven at a friend’s house with her children and will soon begin rehabilitation.

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Amanda stretches out after preparing a vacant room at FAITH. Amanda is required to volunteer 8 hours a week as she does not have a job. “ I learn how to make a bed from mom. She used to work as maid and she took me to work”.