Roughly 33% of the U.S. homeless population are families with children. Homelessness and housing instability can negatively impact health, especially for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant and parenting women. Statistics also show that pregnant women who are homeless are more likely to deliver preterm and low birthweight babies.
This is data that Stasia Roth sees play out on a daily basis as executive director of
A Mother’s Hope. Roth is the founder of A Mother’s Hope, a nonprofit that started as an idea and an answer to a prayer.
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Stasia Roth, founder and executive director of A Mother's HopeAfter learning about another maternity home and their work, Roth assumed the Fort Wayne community also had something similar. She found that wasn’t the case, so she decided to start something. In October 2018, the center opened its doors for its first resident.
“There’s a lot of pain and suffering in our world, and I had shared with God that I wanted to help stop it,” Roth says. “God saw my heart and my yearning to do something. With my background in social work and where He had led me through the years, little did I know He had been preparing for me for this role my entire life.”
Today, A Mother’s Hope provides pregnant homeless women safety, food, and shelter, as well as the opportunity to learn life skills and use resources to help improve their lives. After their baby is born, women can stay for up to a year, receiving crucial support during the most vulnerable times.
The shelter itself is a large, five-bedroom house, which provides a home for eight women and their babies. It was previously a residential home, and is set up to maintain that home feeling, says Roth.
“It’s very intentionally set up like a home,” Roth says. “It feels and looks like a home, it is not set up to look like a facility or institution. It is a maternity home, which is not just a shelter, it is truly a program. We’re very upfront about what the program looks like, what it feels like, what the day-to-day is like, and expectations and responsibilities that the women have.”
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A Mother's HopeResidents are expected to keep their rooms clean, take turns doing the chores and cooking dinner, and being respectful of other residents in the community setting.
The
program’s stages also include focused efforts on job training and skills for after women leave the house. In 2023, 100% of residents at A Mother’s Hope had insurance at exit, and 68% of women increased their income at exit.
“Part of our program is equipping women with the skills they need to find where they can find those skills to be employable and get employed,” Roth says. “We help them with resume building, and with interview skills. We have a program that provides six different classes every week at A Mother’s Hope. We have parenting classes, financial literacy, healthy relationships, and journey through pregnancy classes.”
Roth says a big reason A Mother’s Hope was able to launch was because of support from the
St. Joseph Community Health Foundation (SJCHF), which gave them their first grant in 2016.
“I had reached out to St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and got a call around 5 or 5:30 p.m. on a Friday, and it was Meg Distler,” she says. “We were able to talk about what A Mother’s Hope was going to be, and with all the work they were doing in prenatal and infant care focus areas, they knew this was a need as well. They wanted to support our planning and we were able to develop a business plan, a staffing plan, and a program plan with them over the next two years.”
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CourtesyDistlerEarly on in their relationship, Roth says SJCHF was not only a funder, but also a connector, providing connections through the
Prenatal Infant Care Network meetings.
As executive director of SJCHF, Meg Distler leads the foundation and works with the ministry continuing the work of
Saint Katharina Kasper. The organization responds to community needs with grants, leveraging community collaboration, and engaging in initiatives that transform the community. They focus on four designated needs: prenatal and infant care, nutrition and food insecurity, access to quality, affordable healthcare, and resources for refugees and immigrants.
Distler says their focus on
prenatal and infant care is crucial because there are often insufficient resources and barriers for pregnant women looking to attain safe, affordable housing, including being rent-burdened.
“We invest in many different nonprofits and health services that support pregnant women and new families,” she says. “Affordable rental housing is a huge issue in this community, and young families are really feeling the pinch.”
The nation, as a whole, is experiencing a housing crisis. Many people are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and spending too much of their income solely on rent or housing. Many are forced to choose between paying utility bills or getting food on the table. Locally, on the southeast side of Fort Wayne,
the 46806 area faces poverty, with low incomes and limited resources.
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After their baby is born, women can stay for up to a year at A Mother's Hope.Jackie Martinez is the community impact director at SJCHF. As part of her work, she engages with vulnerable and marginalized populations and collaborates with community partners to organize educational initiatives, connecting and advocating for populations in need.
Housing is a need that serves as a foundation for success in many other areas of one’s life. Providing a stable environment within a home sets up individuals for success in a career, health, and quality of life.
Martinez says that according to the
Every Birth Network Community Needs Survey, 51% of respondents rent their homes, and 36% report unsafe conditions like mold, leaks, and pests. These poor housing conditions can cause respiratory issues in both the mother and baby.
SJCHF and A Mother’s Hope have aligned missions and work well together, says Martinez.
“Together, both organizations strive to create a compassionate community that promotes healthier outcomes for families in Fort Wayne,” she says.
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A Mother’s Hope provides pregnant homeless women safety, food, and shelter, as well as the opportunity to learn life skills and use resources to help improve their lives.A Mother’s Hope is one of the many local organizations supported by SJCHF providing hope for the future and a solution for the present.
“The need for the community to come alongside these women and these infants is essential for our future,” Distler says. “It makes you feel really good when you can help these women get connected to many wonderful programs in our community. I’ve had the opportunity to witness and be a part of that many times, and to me, that’s why St. Joseph Community Health Foundation continues to support many different programs like A Mother’s Hope.”
Working with pregnant women to find resources since the early nineties, Distler has seen firsthand the need for programs like A Mother’s Hope, and its real impact.
“A Mother’s Hope has tremendous positive outcomes, and it has been transformational for the lives of the women going through the program,” Distler says.
Although pregnant women seeking housing is typically what leads them to A Mother’s Hope, the organization helps to promote healthier outcomes in other areas too. Impacts can be physical, emotional, or spiritual for mothers and their babies. Housing instability with pregnant women can lead to an increased rate of preterm births, low birth weight, and other issues with babies.
“A Mother’s Hope works hard to try to change those outcomes for those mothers and those babies,” Roth says. “In 2023, 100% of the babies born at A Mother’s Hope were full-term births, so 37 weeks or later, and 100% of the babies born last year were also born at a healthy birth weight. We’re very proud that if they come into our program, we’re able to assist them and support them in having healthier babies.”
A Mother’s Hope
annual 2023 report identified that the organization helped nine babies be born at full term, housed 25 women, and provided 3,081 nights of shelter, with two out of three residents staying in the program six months or longer.
“St. Joseph Community Health Foundation continues to provide funding to us every year in a couple of different ways, so we’ve had quite the partnership over the years,” Roth says. “As we have grown, we’ve been able to grow our staff and have more positions available that really provide more care and intentionality into the services we provide.”
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In 2023, 100% of the babies born at A Mother’s Hope were full-term births, so 37 weeks or later, and 100% of the babies born last year were also born at a healthy birth weight.That extra efficiency is needed since there’s typically a waitlist of 5-12 pregnant women who are seeking out A Mother’s Hope. Looking ahead, Roth would love to expand the program to serve pregnant women who have other children in their care too.
“Only about 37% of the women that we serve are first-time moms,” she says. “The majority of the ones we serve have other kids, whether they’re in foster care, with a family member, or with their dad. We’ve seen over the years, we’ve had well over 200 applicants for our program from women with other children.”
Knowing that the need for A Mother’s Hope is so great in the community can feel heavy and difficult, but it’s also inspiring and rewarding, says Roth.
“It is incredible to see what these women have endured and been through, yet they still come out on the other side,” she says. “Their willingness to keep going is inspiring to myself and all the staff.”
Roth says she is grateful for the faith-filled staff of women staff providing this daily crucial support. It’s also the community’s help outside of the house that helps provide real-life-changing experiences for residents.
“When you don’t have secure housing, and didn’t know where you were going to sleep at night, or where your next meal would come from — what would you actually do? Most of us would go to our support systems, but most of the people we serve don’t have that option,” Roth says. “That’s where our community can step in and be that ‘family’ and community that’s going to step up for them by supporting A Mother’s Hope and the other nonprofits doing this work. That’s how we come together and take care of each other in the community.”
A Mother’s Hope relies heavily on
volunteers and one-time, or monthly
donations.
This story was made possible by the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation.