FORT WORTH -- Sara Cuske was 23 years old when she lost her home. A child of adoption, she wasn't about to give up her baby daughter as she cast about for a lifeline.
She found one at Fort Worth's ACH Child and Family Services, which offers a nonprofit transitional housing program for single parents down on their luck.She shudders to think where she would be today if the shelter had told her no."I had pretty much lost everything, and it was my last chance," Cuske said. "I don't really know where I would have gone if it hadn't worked out here. I had already been turned down by the other shelters."ACH, formerly All Church Home, dedicated the $2 million Rees-Jones Family Residential Building on Thursday at its Wichita Street campus in southeast Fort Worth. The building will house a pair of programs designed to help single parents such as Cuske, as well as young men ages 16 to 21, learn to live on their own.The renovated red-brick building sits on a 19.5-acre portion of the old Masonic Home and School campus. It will house up to 10 families on one floor and up to 20 young men on a separate floor.Wayne Carson, chief executive officer of ACH Child and Family Services, said the Families Together program targets single parents while the L.I.F.E. (Learning Independence From Experience) Project Transitional Living assists homeless young men"We have 50 to 60 boys and girls every year turn 18 in foster care, so that means they have to leave foster care and find another place to live," he said. "That program will specifically target the male portion of that population. That program will involve work skills, education skills, and it will involve developing life skills to help these guys make that transition from living in a family to being out on their own successfully."ACH started a program for young men because the YWCA has already had a similar program for young women.Carson said the program will likely consist of men who come directly from foster care, those who have tried to make it on their own and realized they need help, and those who are runways or who have been kicked out of their homes by abusive parents.Last year, 5,888 children were abused in Tarrant County, more than in Dallas or Harris counties, both of which have a significantly larger population of children, Carson said. Many of those children still need help as they reach adulthood. The L.I.F.E. program receives funds from the Tarrant County Community Development and Housing Division, which administers federal funds.The family program gets funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.Funding for the building renovation came from the Rees-Jones Foundation, which was created in 2006 by Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones of Dallas, according to ACH. Trevor Rees-Jones, an oil and gas man, is No. 79 on the most recent Forbes list of the 400 richest people in America with a net worth of $4.5 billion.Cuske, who successfully completed the family program June 9 and now lives on her own with her 2-year-old daughter, Bella, said there is a need for such boosts."A lot of parents like myself will either lose their kids into CPS and have to live in homeless shelters or have to find alternate places to live," she said. "This program keeps them together and actually gives them hope that, after they finish the program, they will be able to function and live their lives."Cuske, who lives in Fort Worth, said she really didn't have a backup plan a year ago while she waited to see if she would be accepted. After the initial elation and relief of being accepted, she was nervous about entering the program with her daughter."It was really hard packing up my whole house up and moving in with all of these people I didn't know," Cuske said. "It took us a month or so to find a job and get her into day care, but the ball was rolling. We had a few setbacks, but the staff here helped me out a lot."Cuske is now working at a fast-food restaurant. She said Bella has gone through the adjustments without any problems."She's been fine with it," Cuske said. "She's young enough that it's just been moving from one place to another. One of the things I had to keep telling myself was, I wanted to make a better life for her."Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698Twitter: @fwhannaHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
