Roaches are everywhere, the kitchen faucet drains into the bathtub and the bathroom ceiling appears on the verge of collapse.

Yet this is the only housing the city has offered Jasmine Finley-Rodriguez to raise her 3-year-old son and prepare for the baby due in May.


What You Need To Know

  • Jasmine Finley-Rodriguez, 20, has been under the care of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services since she was 14. She now has a 3-year-old son, and another child due in May. Finley-Rodriguez has been in 15 to 20 foster homes in the last six years

  • Finley-Rodriguez is one of hundreds of aged-out foster youth, who are unable to leave the agency's care because they cannot secure permanent housing. ACS set Finley-Rodriguez and her son up in a New York City Housing Authority apartment that had bugs, leaky faucets and a ceiling verging collapse

  • In addition to housing insecurity, Finley-Rodriguez had her 3-year-old son, King, removed from her care after she had left the jurisdiction, a violation of the rules she must follow as someone still in the agency’s custody. King spent two and a half years in a different foster home, before reuniting with his mother in February

  • Because of the conditions of the apartment, a judge ordered ACS to place Finley-Rodriguez and King temporarily in a hotel. He says the responsibility lies squarely with the heads of the City Housing Authority and of ACS

Finley-Rodriguez says her mother left when she was an infant.

Her father was her primary caregiver. But when she was 14, she says a fight with him sent her to the emergency room.

That day she was placed in the city’s custody, and the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, also known as ACS, was tasked with keeping Finley-Rodriguez safe. When she left the hospital, the agency sent her to a group home.

It was the beginning of her journey in foster care, which continues to this day.

In the last six years, she’s been in too many placements to count.

Finley-Rodriguez says she “would sleep on the train because the train made me feel more comfortable than any of the placements that they would put me in.”

Now at 20, she’s still in the city’s custody, but also has a child of her own to care for.

ACS, citing privacy laws, would not address the specifics of her case but did tell NY1 that currently 75 young women in foster care also have their own children.

Last year, ACS placed Finley-Rodriguez in her first home: a New York City Housing Authority apartment in Queens.

It’s riddled with problems, but it’s all she has been offered.

In a statement, NYCHA told NY1 that the apartment had been fully renovated when Finley-Rodriguez moved in, and that it had “been responsive to this resident’s concerns and will be working closely with ACS regarding any necessary coordination on this case. NYCHA staff continue to address the resident’s repair requests and Pest Management staff will be following up on previous treatments.”

Finley-Rodriguez says it was her son King who rescued her the day he was born.

“It impacted me so much because that was really my savior. That was someone who was supposed to help me feel more stable,” she said.

But stability remains elusive. When King was six months old, ACS removed him from her care.

Finley-Rodriguez and her lawyer say ACS sent King into foster care because she had left the jurisdiction, a violation of the rules she must follow as someone still in the agency’s custody.

King spent two and a half years in foster care and was only reunited to live full time with Finley-Rodriguez in February.

Because of the condition of the apartment, a judge has ordered ACS to place them temporarily in a hotel, while her lawyer fights for a safer, more permanent place.

He says the responsibility lies squarely with the heads of the City Housing Authority and of ACS.

ACS says no city youth is discharged from foster care to homelessness, and that youth in city care can remain past their 21st birthday if they haven’t found permanent housing.

For now, Finley-Rodriguez is still fighting for safety, stability and for the chance to raise her children in a home that feels like one.

After NY1 contacted ACS and NYCHA about this story, Finley-Rodriguez’s attorney tells NY1 NYCHA has begun working to fix the plumbing and exterminate to rid the apartment of the infestation.

It remains unclear whether she’ll be able to move in before her baby is due next month.