The Three Melissas

The Three Melissas: The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness by Diane Nilan and Diana Bowman, two long-time advocates for families experiencing homelessness, is a one-of-a-kind practical guide for dealing with the unrelenting hardships that parents endure while keeping their children safe during homelessness. Featured are three mothers named Melissa who doggedly faced the day-to-day hardships of being homeless. The book offers their tips, strategies, and inspiration for parents who are homeless., and creates a window into the struggles parents face that could help improve supports and services for families who are homeless.

You will experience the Melissas' frustration over facing daily barriers that kept them from becoming stably housed. You will share the emotional toll as they struggled and doubted themselves as parents. You will realize that you never get over homelessness. The Melissas still experience what one of them called "Post-Traumatic Homelessness Disorder." Yet, the Three Melissas offer inspiration and hope to parents. They emphasize do the best you can for your kids and "give yourself a break." They exhort parents to reach out, and keep reaching out, and use their voice to help people understand what they need.

The Melissas also recommend changes in service systems from the perspective of those who sought help and found services inadequate for the real needs of families experiencing homelessness. They address ways that service providers, government, and nonprofits could more effectively help parents and children survive homelessness. Finally, the book offers practical tools, including a tip sheet to help people who host families in their home on how to communicate and set boundaries. Their advice can also guide professionals in support systems to better tailor services so that when families lose their housing, they can move quickly through the devastation of homelessness and attain lasting stability.