Homeless Pregnant Mother Helped Off Street By Nonprofit
UKIAH (KPIX 5) -- When KPIX first met Erin Finafrock in November of 2019, she was homeless, pregnant and sleeping in a tent in Oakland. Soon after, a nonprofit intervened and helped her get off the street, just in time for the surprise of her life.
As is the case for most moms, the second your baby enters the world, life as you know it will never be the same. That sentiment is especially true for Finafrock.
"It's definitely giving me the will and the want to keep moving forward, not looking back," she said at Ukiah Valley Medical Center.
Things looked quite different back in November. She didn't even know how far along she was.
"About four and a half, almost five months," she guessed in November. "I haven't been to the doctor."
She also had no idea she had another surprise on the way.
"It was surprising when I found out I was pregnant with twins," Finafrock said.
Immediately after our story aired, Bay Area Community Services reached out to Finafrock and gave her a car. That car allowed her to travel three hours north to Lake County to reconnect with her other children, her mom and grandma. That's who she and the twins now live with temporarily.
"Without that vehicle, I wouldn't be able to get to and from the doctors, I wouldn't have been able to do a whole lot," she said.
A heroin addiction is the first reason why Finafrock lost her housing. Then the wildfires in Paradise of 2018 took her home. She's been clean for three years, but she's still not out of the woods.
BACS, the nonprofit that provided her a car, also promised to find her housing but it has yet to materialize. And her grandma's one bedroom is crowded and far from a permanent solution.
"I'm trying to figure it out, it's still a little scary not knowing, it's the not knowing that is scary," Finafrock said.
But she says this situation pales in comparison to the fear she felt when she was sleeping on the street. Back then, fear consumed her, going to the doctor or asking for help felt too scary, but one donation changed all of that.
"You know, there's people out there that actually do have a heart, you know? I've gained my faith in humanity back. I haven't had it for a long time," she said.
She says her newborn daughters Liliana and Jaxon are her second chances. Going forward, her life will never be the same and she's determined to make sure of that.
A study by UCSF found homelessness increases a woman's risk of preterm birth by 20 percent, while full term for twins is 37 weeks. After getting into quality care, Finafrock made it to 36 weeks and 6 days. Both the mom and the babies are healthy. They continue to hope permanent housing comes through.