NEW ORLEANS — Cynde never thought she would find herself needing so much help. Since December she has been homeless after she lost her job as a paralegal and being kicked out of a home she had been renting for years.
She asked Eyewitness News to not identify her because of her situation.
"I didn't have anyone to watch my four-year-old," Cynde said. "I kept being late. Then I had to get my kids off the bus. The people that I had to watch them, they stopped watching them. So they fired me."
Cynde's children are now among the more than 2 million kids in America who face a period of homelessness each year. Research shows that almost 40 percent of homeless people in the United States are under 18 years old.
Cynde's boys are nine, six and four years old.
"They keep saying, 'when are we going back home?' I don't think that they fully understand that we don't have that house anymore," Cynde said.
For now, home is the New Orleans Women and Children's Shelter.
"I told them we are in a hotel. We are visiting a hotel until I get a house," Cynde said.
Studies have shown that homelessness can have major impacts on children. Without stable homes, children are more than twice as likely to repeat a grade in school, be expelled, suspended or drop out of high school. About 25 percent of homeless children have witnessed violence and more than half have problems with anxiety and depression.
Cynde said that her oldest son is struggling the most.
"He's just angry," Cynde said. " And he'll tell me, 'I miss my friends. I want to go back.'"
Cynde is doing her best to take care of her children. She wants people to realize that just because she is homeless does not mean that she fits into a stereotype. She says she hates seeing her children in this position, but she knows that they are her motivation to get back on her feet.
"I tried a lot. I fought a lot. I don't want to cry, but I really fought," Cynde said.
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To directly help Cynde, you can donate a gift card in her name to:
New Orleans Women & Children Shelter
2020 S. Liberty St.
New Orleans, LA 70113
WWL-TV reporter Sheba Turk can be reached at sturk@wwltv.com; Follow her on Twitter at @ShebaTurk