Arbor House Gives Women Home, Hope -- Young Mothers Receive Support, Training

BOTHELL

For Victoria Brooks, getting accepted into the Friends of Youth Arbor House program for homeless young mothers meant she didn't have to beg friends for a place to sleep.

Brooks was lucky.

Arbor House program director Eileen Putter gets 10 calls a week from women hoping to land a spot in one of the five two-bedroom or four one-bedroom apartments. Once they're in, they work to move out. During their average eight-month stay, the women learn how to be good parents and develop skills to support themselves and their children.

Giving these single mothers education, job training and parenting skills turns them into productive citizens, Putter said.

"We'll know in 18 years if this breaks the cycle," Putter said. "The true test will be if the kids these moms have grow up without becoming parents first."

Arbor House, according to Putter, gives mothers ages 18 to 21 a chance to grow up. Arbor House provides the family support they often lack.

"I've gone to numerous graduations where I'll be the only person there for the resident," Putter said.

Numbers indicate the program works.

From January 1994 to December 1996, for example, 46 women moved through Arbor House. In that time, 14 went off welfare completely. Eighteen were in school, and eight were working but still collecting some aid. All but one of the rest are stay-at-home mothers.

More importantly for their babies, Putter said, 45 of the 46 formerly homeless women were living in a stable home.

Brooks is one of the success stories.

Last month, the business-administration major completed her junior year at the University of Washington. During summer break, she works in the UW purchasing department. She shares a low-income apartment in Bellevue with her toddler.

Another success is Angela Herring, who now lives at Arbor House, the first home she's had since she was 12. Years of sexual and physical abuse, giving up a child for adoption and having a second baby with medical problems made her street life tough.

At Arbor House, a computer course at Lake Washington Technical College is making her employable.

"I just bought my first car, a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass," Herring said proudly. "I've learned I don't have to settle for less anymore. I'm worth something."

To be accepted into the residence, the women must be motivated to become independent. That means going to school or job training, sometimes both if they don't have a high-school diploma. Each resident must attend weekly parent-support-group meetings and participate in household chores and social activities.

While all the ingredients add up, Putter credited volunteer mentors from the Junior League of Seattle with putting the frosting on the cake.

Each September after a get-acquainted party, residents are matched with a mentor. There are regularly scheduled events - a Mother's Day brunch in May and a farewell party in June - but the nitty-gritty of mentoring comes from individual meetings, phone calls and outings.

Mentors take the residents and their babies to Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Children's Theatre or out to the mall for shopping and conversation.

Peggy Peery of Boulevard Park, near Burien, was chairwoman for the Junior League project. She sees the role of mentor as a cross between being a big sister and cheerleader.

Peery mentored Brooks and is proud of the young woman's success at the UW. Although Brooks has left Arbor House, the two women talk on the phone several times a week and get together often.

"I wasn't thrilled about having a mentor when I heard about it," Brooks said. "Arbor House expected so many things of us - I felt like I had no life already.

"But most events were paired with food, food we didn't have to worry about cooking. Peggy became a friend, someone I could complain to, someone who listens. Now we talk all the time."

Herring considers her mentor, Melody Benton, not only a friend but a role model.

"Melody has her life together. I want to be like her," Herring said. "The first time we talked I tried to scare her away. I told her some of the bad things I'd been through, some of the situations where I'd been abused.

"But she called me the next day. I thought at first it was out of pity, but it wasn't. She really wanted to be my friend."

That's the idea, Putter said.

She said many of the young women coming into Arbor House have few friends and usually no role models.

That doesn't mean being a mentor is easy, Colleen Christofferson said.

The young woman she was mentoring recently returned to Central California.

"They're grown up with babies but are still very young," Christofferson said. "My frustration came from being able to see both sides of a big decision when they can't."

Despite her frustrations, Christofferson likes the program.

"Mentors," she said, "aren't friends as much as they're examples of how life can be."

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For information about the Friends of Youth Arbor House, call 425-869-6490.

Give us your ideas: If you know of a person or project making a difference - from fighting crime to cleaning the environment to helping kids - call the Making It Work voice-mail line, 464-3338, or write describing your nominee: c/o Lily Eng, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Include a phone number.