Iowa City child care center serves homeless with unique Home Ties program

IOWA CITY - Stocking liquor store shelves overnight and trying to keep her three boys safe in inner-city Chicago wasn't working for Chantrice Horne.

Add to the mix a 10-month-old granddaughter whose parents are in Japan with the U.S. Navy.

Horne decided to take her family to Iowa City in September without knowing exactly what she would do when she got here.

'We were staying at the Day's Inn, but money ran a little short,” Horne said. 'I wound up at the homeless shelter.”

Some people might see a shelter as rock bottom, but Horne saw only upsides. Shelter House helps residents tap into programs and services while also providing emergency and transitional housing to men, women, and children.

One of those programs was Home Ties, one of few child care centers in Iowa that provide free, short-term care to homeless families. The service helps parents who are hunting for jobs, securing housing, or attending appointments.

'If it wasn't for Home Ties, I wouldn't be able to support my family,” Horne said.

Home Ties, which opened in 1995, reserves most of its 25 spots for children aged 6 months to 6 years who are living at Shelter House, the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, or who are homeless by other means. Foster children or families receiving public assistance also are eligible for three months of free care.

The center holds a few spots for children whose parents receive child care assistance while other families pay full price.

Home Ties is based in a light-filled annex in the back of the First Mennonite Church, near the University of Iowa campus. The congregation, which doesn't charge the center for rent or utilities, raised money for the annex in 2010.

'The feeling from the congregation is this is something we can do for families in the community who are homeless or struggling,” Pastor Bob Smith said.

Horne rises each morning around 5 a.m. to work the breakfast shift in the Shelter House kitchen, where she's doing a paid internship to learn about food service. She makes coffee, cuts up pastries, and sets out milk and juice.

Kitchen workers also do prep for meals the Shelter House caters to other service agencies and clients.

While she's working, Horne's sons - aged 17, 11 and 8 - get themselves ready for school and they get baby Annari ready for Home Ties. Tyrone, 17, brings the baby to the Shelter House before he goes to school by 8 a.m.

Horne and Annari spend time with other Shelter House staff and residents before the Home Ties van picks her up at 9:30 a.m.

Transportation is one of the reasons Home Ties is especially helpful to homeless families, many of whom don't have cars.

Children flourish

The center has room for six babies, who eat, sleep, nap, and play in a colorful room with a care ratio of one adult to three children - better than what the state requires. Annari, who turns 1 year old on Jan. 8, toddles around the room, grabbing toys and smiling at her teacher, Omaima Elobeid.

Older children spend their time in the annex, dancing, putting together puzzles, and watching birds at the feeders outside. The children also help plant and tend a garden in the summer.

'It's an emotional outlet,” Lead Preschool Teacher Amanda Nelson said of the garden.

Over eight years at Home Ties, Nelson has noticed children who come to Iowa City from inner-city neighborhoods often don't know the joys of outdoor play. She's caught more than one child who, when placed on the curved seat of a swing, didn't know what to do and fell off.

'It's no place to raise a child, where some of these families are coming from,” added Jan Koch, Home Ties director.

Koch and Nelson notice other effects of homelessness. Some children have behavior problems, speech delays, and other learning disabilities that often improve once they are in stable child care.

Home Ties is a rarity in Iowa. Other programs provide child care for homeless families, but nothing as complete, service providers said.

Waypoint Services in Cedar Rapids offers drop-in child care from 9:15 a.m. to noon on weekdays to families living at the Madge Phillips Center Shelter. There are four spots available each day that parents must reserve in advance.

The Iowa Homeless Youth Center's Family Futures program in Des Moines works with homeless families to apply for 30 days of free child care with about a dozen private providers. Linda Meyer, a child and family advocate with the program, said she wishes they could offer transportation the way Home Ties does.

'That's so awesome,” she said of the Iowa City program.

Around 3:30 p.m., Home Ties staff load up the van again and take Annari and other children back to Shelter House. Horne meets the van, gives Annari a kiss before putting the baby into her stroller so Tyrone can take her home while Horne works the dinner shift.

The family is excited to have their first Iowa Christmas in transitional housing Horne secured through the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP). A friend helped them find a Christmas tree and Horne's father may be coming up from Texas.

Annari's free care at Home Ties ended earlier this week, but Horne found a spot at an in-home day care for after the holidays. The baby will be reunited with her parents in January or February, when her father will be stationed stateside, Horne said.

Horne plans to seek a full-time job in catering or event planning.

'Now I know I can find a job where I can work the hours she can go to day care,” Horne said. 'Knowing she's safe allows me to have the freedom to come to work and say, ‘You know, she's OK.'”