By Joy Borkholder, Illustration: Kelly Flynn/Crosscut, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, August 22, 2022
Sitting in her sunny studio apartment in Spokane’s South Hill neighborhood, surrounded by homes she describes as “out of a Pixar movie,” Williams, a 20-year-old junior college student, reflected on her accomplishments and challenges.
She’d spent several of her middle school years in foster homes, as her mom struggled with addiction and mental health, sometimes locking herself inside her room for days and leaving her children to fend for themselves. Her absentee dad also was addicted, said Williams, asking that her first name not be used to protect her family’s privacy.
She shuttled between living with her family in her hometown of Yakima and being a ward of the state. When she was 16, Williams was returned to her mother’s custody; then, with her clan moved to Spokane for what was supposed to have been a “clean slate.” It was far from that. Sometimes they slept in shelters, sometimes in their van. Eventually, with a Section 8 rental assistance voucher, Williams, her mother, four younger siblings, older sister, older sister’s boyfriend and that couple’s baby crammed into a three-bedroom apartment.
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