How Head Start Works: 101
Over 17 years have passed since Heidi Rojas walked into her first Head Start center to register her child. Since then, Heidi has truly “joined” the Head Start family. Her journey has been one of fear, acceptance, hard work and triumph.
Twenty years ago she married a man she thought was the love of her life. They were married in Puerto Rico and both came to Utah to pursue their college degrees. Soon after arriving in Utah Heidi realized that her dreams would not come to fruition. Her husband became very controlling and abusive. She had no family or friends to turn to, she did not speak English; she felt that this was her life and it would not change.
In 1984, her first son was four years old and ready to register for Head Start. She and her husband took their son to school each morning. Her husband did not allow Heidi to sign-in their son or take him to class, she had to sit out in the hall on a bench and wait.
She called her Head Start social worker who directed her to the YWCA women’s shelter. Heidi lived there for six weeks before she got her own apartment.
She and her five sons shared a one-bedroom apartment. She turned to the only place she knew and felt comfortable for employment, Head Start.
Her first position at Head Start was as a substitute teacher. She took two buses, starting at 6:00 a.m., with her kids to get to work on time. “My kids loved the bus, they became friends with the bus driver and the other riders. I made it like a game for them.” She worked hard on her English and started learning about all the different ways parents could be involved in Head Start.
Heidi mentoring a staff member.
A few years into her employment with Head Start, just when she was beginning to feel “settled,” her son accidentally set fire to her apartment. She lost everything. Once more with Head Start’s help she was able to start over.
A social worker noticed this quiet woman and began talking to Heidi each day, soon gaining her trust and breaking down her barriers.
The social worker realized that Heidi would not be able to do anything without her husband’s approval, so she asked Heidi’s husband if Heidi could be the parent representative for a staff interview. He allowed her to do that one task and soon allowed Heidi to volunteer in their son’s classroom.
"They never said I couldn't do something.
They always gave me a chance."
The social worker talked to Heidi and her husband every day, visited Heidi at her house several times, asked her to come to parent activities, never giving up. She was able to get both Heidi and her husband involved in the program. Soon he was so involved that he stopped keeping Heidi from going out of the house and participating in her children’s lives, although the abuse did continue.
One day Heidi decided she would not take any more abuse from her husband. She gathered all five of her kids together and left the house and just started to walk. She did not know where she was going to go, she just kept walking.