Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City

by Andrea Elliott

Soon, state investigators are combing the building. They find that Auburn’s fire safety system is virtually inoperable. There is also no childcare, as legally mandated, nor does Auburn have the certificate of occupancy required to operate as a shelter. Black mold is spreading in the shelter’s bathrooms. The investigators release a devastating internal report: No young child with chronic breathing problems or serious medical conditions should be placed at the shelter, and no one under age two should live there at all. In other words, Dasani’s family—with a one-year-old (Lee-Lee), two asthmatic children (Papa and Avianna), and another child (Nana) who is legally blind—should never have been at Auburn in the first place. The exodus of Auburn’s families begins in October 2013.