NY1's Courtney Gross followed one family as they tried to make their way through the city's homeless shelter system. 

It's cold and dark, and this family is looking for a placement in a homeless shelter in the middle of winter. 

It's a convoluted, bureaucratic and sometimes punishing process that starts at an intake center in the Bronx, where families often sit for hours waiting for an assignment. 

Once that happens, that homeless shelter can often be hours away from their school or job. 

That was the case for Shanikqua Moore and her three little boys. 

We start earlier that day.

"At this particular time, they placed us in Queens. And they are telling us there is no space in the Bronx for me and my size family, which is me and my three kids. I have documentation that states we are supposed to be in the Bronx due to his sickness. But they are giving me a hard time and a lot of running around," Moore says. "We have been doing this since October, and we are now in January."

Moore has been in and out of shelters for months, bouncing between her mother's house in Westchester and the city's maze-like system. She is from the Bronx. Her oldest son has sickle-cell anemia, and their family doctor is there. Her kids go to school in Crotona Park East. Their after-school program runs into the evening. 

"I don't know what to do," Moore says. "I don't want to be there. It's too far from my son's school, after-school and his doctor."

She estimates it will be a two-hour journey to get to their assigned shelter. 

"It says we can take the 4 to 59th street and Lexington and get the R, the N or the W down to Queens," she says.

It's grueling. But she wants to make her way through the system to get a housing voucher and a permanent home. 

The boys are along for the ride. Since she entered the system in October, Moore tells us her sons have missed about two months of school. 

"So it doesn't bother them as of yet. But my oldest son, he is just getting really tired of it. He is just getting really uncomfortable. He feels like he shouldn't have to do it," Moore says. "Before they do realize it, I would like to be already out and settled."

For now, they have to settle for two subway lines and an hours-long commute away from the neighborhood they called home.

They exit in Woodside, Queens. It's then a long walk in the cold until they see the neon sign of a hotel in the distance. 

As family shelters reach capacity and the population soars, the city has bought rooms in far-flung hotels.

The problem here is, Moore and her kids did not arrive in time. Their placement was cancelled. 

"Hopefully, we will be placed by 4 o'clock in the morning," Moore says. "I know you all have to go to school tomorrow. I know you all are going to be tired. But it's Friday and we ain't got to worry about it for the rest of the week."

So now it's back out in the cold. 

"I'm hoping when we get back to PATH and reapply, they place us in the Bronx," Moore says.

The chances are not great. The city tells us in the last fiscal year, just 55 percent of families were placed close to their youngest child's school address. 

In Moore's case, her oldest son, who is just 10 years old, is broken down by this back and forth.  

The mayor says he is aware of this problem. The city is expected to unveil a new approach to the shelter system this month. The goal will be to keep families in their communities, close to school and work. 

"One of the things I am very concerned about is changing the nature of our shelter system to focus on getting people to shelter in the borough they come from and then ultimately closer to home to the maximum extent possible, particularly if it's a family with children," de Blasio said on January 24.

It looks like the Moores will be waiting. 

"I don't understand how they expect you to get a placement or help yourself when they are not trying to help you as well," Moore says.