5-year-old girl with autism and her family fight to find a home after apartment fire
After a long night of little sleep caring for her 5-year-old daughter Katherin Leyva, who had a fever, Beatriz Perez dropped off her two other girls at their school bus stop on Sept. 8.
Katherin stayed home not only because she was sick, but also because she still hadn’t started at J.W. Johnson Elementary School, awaiting an evaluation of her severe autism.
Perez, 27, returned to the one-bedroom Hialeah apartment she rents with her mom and dozed off, but she was awakened by Katherin’s shrieking.
Katherin can’t talk and sometimes communicates with noises, but this sounded different.
“There was a fire. The house was full of smoke,” Perez said. “Katherin looked black from the soot.
“We were terrified.”
Perez feared the gas stove would explode. She couldn’t reach the front door keys hanging by the kitchen window because of the flames. Desperately, she rushed to the living room window and punched the glass. She pushed Katherin through and then punched the glass again, making a bigger hole so she could slide through as well.
They escaped, alerted their neighbors and called the firefighters, who concluded a short circuit caused the danger. Thankfully, nobody died and the stove never blew up.
But nearly three months later, in some ways, the smoke still hasn’t cleared out of their lives.
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Yet another fresh start
Perez and her family — including her other daughters, Evelyn Leyva, 3, and Rachel Leyva, 7 — lost their shoes, clothes, mattresses, food and other household items in the fire. They also lost the two love birds they had adopted and kept on a cage above the fridge.
When the firefighters arrived, they broke the lock and extinguished the flames. But their landlord told Perez they couldn’t sleep there that night.
“The worst part wasn’t losing our stuff. It was hearing that we were evicted and we didn’t have anywhere to go,” she said. “The girls got home from school and they were hungry, they were asking about their pets, they were crying.”
In that moment, Perez remembered life in her native Cuba, where she lacked most basic necessities, including a healthcare professional who could properly diagnose and treat Katherin.
She recalled how that persisted when she moved to Spain for a bit, and then to Florida when she separated from her partner about a year ago.
That night, she got a hotel room through Advocacy Network on Disabilities, a nonprofit that provides services to families of kids with disabilities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Then she mentally willed herself to start over again, knowing it would be a challenge.
Because Perez cares full-time for Katherin, she and her 67-year-old mom stretch her mom’s income as a caretaker in Homestead to sustain everyone.
‘Strength from within’
Advocacy Network, which nominated the family for Wish Book, also gave Perez parenting lessons on issues like communication, potty-training and routine-setting.
“She felt she wasn’t doing enough for Katherin, because she had to balance her care with her other two daughters as a single mom, but we showed her it’s a process, so she gained confidence,” said Jessie Castillo, a parent educator for the organization.
When the landlord let them back in after the fire, Perez returned with her three daughters, but they’ve struggled since.
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Katherin screamed when she first saw the apartment, refusing to go in. She has barely slept for weeks. She has also developed a stronger attachment to her mom, so Perez now showers with the bathroom door open so Katherin can see her at all times. They sleep together.
Perez herself still experiences nightmares. Sometimes she inexplicably smells smoke inside the apartment.
“It was traumatic,” Perez said. “Very traumatic.”
She struggles to get through it, but Perez finds purpose every time she sees Katherin or one of her other daughters smile.
Her 5-year-old, who started at school in a special needs program in November, now pays attention more and can sit still longer. She also loves to dance along to Maluma, a Colombian reggaeton singer, and loves watching “Masha and the Bear,” a cartoon show.
“I somehow find strength from within to keep going,” Perez said. “They need me.”
Step by step
With help from neighbors, they repainted the apartment. Perez bought a new fire alarm and a new front door lock. They also received donations from the Red Cross, Advocacy Network and from loved ones to replace lost goods, even if the dresses didn’t quite fit the girls or the linens are larger than their mattresses.
The man who had sold her the two lovebirds heard about the fire and gifted her a third. The girls, who had not named the birds that died in the fire, baptized the new one as Tita.
However, despite the progress, they still face needs.
Perez needs a doctor, as her ankle has bothered her since she landed outside the window during the fire.
Katherin needs chocolate Pediasure, the only thing she eats. She needs diapers and wet wipes. She also urgently needs therapies to gain skills, become more independent and improve her quality of life.
The family needs a new refrigerator; right now they have two but neither cools properly. And above all, they need a new home, because the landlord already told them he will sell the place come January and wants them gone.
Perez hopes this year’s Wish Book program and Miami Herald readers can help.
“What we need most is rent assistance,” Perez said. “But really, we’ll take anything we can get.”
How to help
To help this Wish Book nominee and the more than 100 other nominees who are in need this year:
▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or emailWishbook@MiamiHerald.com
▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans
▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
