I've been divorced for almost 3 years now. My ex is in Huntsville (sentenced to 15 years for drug distribution). I get no child support now, the girls have no health insurance (I make less than the standards for CHIP but was denied because the size of my family and I make too much money?). I need rent assistance in Garland. Section 8 in Garland is not accepting new applications at all. I want to stay close to my parents and don't want to move my girls to another school either. They both have dyslexia. I'm just totally sunk. According to the food stamp website I only qualify for $75 a month, like that could feed 3 people for a month! Anybody know of anything out there?

Pregnancy centers...local YMCA... search the internet and phone book... look up government organizations.... also churches will help with food, clothing, and bills.... call the churches in your area... pregnancy centers can give you info for other places that can help... email me at hempy199@yahoo.com... I am in cincy and needed tons of help myself.... see i was lucky and get food stamps and medical... but at first i didn't... see, there is a YMCA and a YWCA and organizations like that have a list of other organizations that can help... Blue pages in phone book... HEAP office and also call your phone and electric co they can put you on a plan where your bill will be the same every month and you can be able to afford it.. PIP is for the electic co and so is HEAP....Lifeline is for the phone co....hope i helped a bit....

Do you have a social service financial worker? They are usually pretty good at explaining to you what you do and do not qualify for. I had a friend here in MN who years ago was having a lot of financial difficulties and the waiting lists for help were long, and what they told her was that if you go into a shelter, you go to the top of the priority list. I know here in MN if you have assetts sometimes you have to spend down before they'll help you. I know neither of those are great options but it is really risky to go without health insurance and if you cant pay your rent you might be out of a place to live anyway. There are also sometimes charities that will help you out in an emergency. Talk to your local social services and also church organizations. I hope that helps. Sorry about your situation, it sounds pretty rough.

Hi there! This is a couple of months late, but I'm from Texas and somewhat know the places to go for assistance. If either one of your girls is 5 or under you can apply for WIC, it might not help much but you can usually get, 2 lbs of cheese, milk, peanut butter or beans, cereal, and juice every month. They can also help with free shots. If Garland isn't excepting applications for housing, check back every now in then, maybe once a month and see when they do. Even if you don't want to move to another city, apply in other counties. I have applied in another county, they said the waiting list is 9 - 12 months, but it all depends on the people who are on housing, the ones on the list before me and if people keep up with all the necessary paper work. I figure when my name comes up on the list, it doesn't hurt to have the option, you never know where you'll be in 9 - 12 months and by then you might really prefer the help over not moving. Go ahead and apply for the $75 of food stamps, every little bit helps and if you coupon clip, it can go even further. Also if there are any other areas you might not mind living in, you should go ahead and apply for housing there. Also there are a lot of churches that help out with groceries. Another thing, when I got an application for housing, there was a paper included with lists of places that can help with things, one of them including two different churches that give out food. I'm surprised you were denied for CHIP, I qualified but they wanted me to send in $50 to get my son started. However after that I applied for Medicaid again and then qualified. I don't know what had gotten me denied the first time but the information didn't change the second time around but I qualified. However I did have a different service worker or whatever their title is. Keep trying! Hope I was of some help or comfort!

Gabriel's Mom

i was just searching this site, that was really good info you gave do you know anything further about section 8? beacause i make ok money but my child support is minimal and my son and i are still living in a "low rent apt complex" we have been here 3.5 yrs with no hope of moving anywhere else beacuse i simply cannot afford it. I dont qualify for any other assistance because i make over the limit. i dont have a car, i dont have savings, we survive literally check to check. it would help so much if we could move to a little better place and i could have a little help with rent. but i realize this is the dilema of 3/4 population so is there any hope for a better future? what are some of my options to get ahead and find a better place to live?

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