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Resident says shelter management at Serenity Homes improperly threatened family with eviction
Summary
A Baldwin Park resident told the council she and her children received a termination notice from a shelter operator she called ‘Serenity Homes’ and described harassment, family separation and health impacts; she urged the city to address management and protect families.
A Baldwin Park resident told the city council on May 21 that she and her four young children received a notice of termination from a shelter she identified as Serenity Homes and described what she called mistreatment by shelter staff.
Catherine Saldana said she and her children, four under age 5 with one turning 1 next month, were told to meet requirements she said were not possible (for example, immediate potty training for very young children). Saldana said staff made assumptions without asking for proof, that she had been harassed and that her children’s father was removed from the family’s placement after he had recently lost a job. She said the family has health concerns, including recent emergency surgery, and that the termination notice exacerbated medical issues.
Saldana asked the council to look into management practices at the facility, to help keep families together and to improve treatment of residents. She said she has provided documentation in person but that shelter management did not reverse the termination.
The remarks came during public comment; no city action was announced at the meeting. Council members did not provide a public response to Saldana’s statement during the open-comment period.
The city clerk recorded that six speaker cards had been received for public comments that evening; Saldana was one of those speakers.
