Markus was asked to leave his home in Salt Lake City at age 17 when his family discovered he was gay through a social media post. Because of being “outed” on social media, he experienced bullying and discrimination at school and in his usual social environments. None of his friends’ families would take him in,…

Attention Homes’ street outreach staff and volunteers met Melanie and her family on the street. Although her mom had a job their family didn’t have enough money to afford their own place, they were homeless. Melanie’s mom brought her to Attention Homes so that she would be safe and attend high school regularly. Melanie has…

In late 2010, when Attention Homes’ youth shelter opened, David was one of our first residents. He came to our shelter on New Years Eve, after running away to avoid being put into foster care. He stayed with us for two months until he turned 18. During his time with us we successfully enrolled him…

Much like any family with school-age kids, as soon as August arrives, our focus turns to Back to School. This is an exciting time for students as they head back to class, eager to share fun summer stories and see friends they haven’t seen in a while. Many youth also experience anxiety at the thought…

When Marianna came to The Source we already knew about her home situation since her older brother had utilized our services before. Raised in Boulder County, Marianna was living at home at 18 but failed to graduate high school. Her parents, suffering from extreme financial distress with 3 additional school-aged children, claimed they could no…

Kerri had a difficult childhood because of her family circumstances. At age 10, she lost her dad to drugs and alcohol, and her mom used regularly as well. Kerri was left acting as a parent to her three younger siblings by age 13. Soon after, the stress and demands of being an adult at such…

In September of last year, 17-year-old Addison found herself without a home after her parents could no longer afford the motel they were living in. At this point in her life, Addison was too familiar with instability. She wanted something different. In an effort to make a better life for herself, she moved back to…

Zach recently passed all four GED tests required to receive his diploma, which was an extremely proud moment for Zach as well as everyone at The Source. After a couple of weeks of getting to know Zach we began talking about his future goals and general aspirations. During these conversations he mentioned that he had…

“I am currently staying at The Source. After fighting to complete High School, I started working. Home was not safe, but I never asked anybody for help. It was hard to get away; I was comfortable where I was sleeping because through the chaos, I do love my family. I decided to leave home for…