'A Better Life for Their Children'

By Magdalena Castro-Lewis

Roberto and Guadalupe Perez have lived in their home in southwest San Antonio for 12 years. Roberto is bilingual, graduated from high school, and earns the minimum wage working for a construction company. Lupe is a native of Mexico. She understands some English, but speaks only Spanish and stays home to care for their five children, whose ages range from 2 to 17. The Perez children are either bilingual or are learning the two languages.

The couple's two oldest children, Juan and Teresa, have dropped out of school. The other three attend 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades and do below-average work. Lupe walks to school with them every day because she is afraid something will happen to them.

Roberto and Lupe would like a better life for their children. Lupe wants her children to stay in school, but she fears that her younger children will follow in their older siblings' footsteps. She desperately needs help and support. Unfortunately, she does not know where...