King and Country

This is my final edit for my story on Diane King, a 36-year-old Gainesville woman who is homeless and (was) pregnant. I followed her struggle to secure housing (which has yet to happen) and hopefully the starting blocks of a better life for her new daughter. This was her seventh child, the other six either old enough to be independent or taken out of her custody due to drug use. The Alachua County Housing Department put Diane up in a motel for one week, four weeks before her due date. That was the extent of its generosity. She ended up giving birth at home: in a tent in the woods, about one mile from the closest pay phone. Alisha King and mother spent a day in the hospital together before being separated, Alisha going to Diane's mom and Diane returning to her life on the streets.