A box of Huggies sits in the corner. A stuffed toy horse leans against a wood-paneled wall next to a toy cat. On the coffee table is a package of Pampers wipes. And Nashad, 7 months old, wearing a blue onesie, sits in the corner of a threadbare futon playing with an elephant small enough to fit into his tiny hands.
His mother, Alexis Crenshaw, 19, sits next to him and grabs his fingers when he reaches for a nearby notebook. Crenshaw’s girlfriend, Nashara Arnold, 21, sits on the arm of the futon, almost protectively, also playing with the child and retrieving a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he becomes fussy. She and Crenshaw have been together since shortly before Nashad was born and Crenshaw named him after her girlfriend.
The two are in a stable home for the first time in months, living in a cramped but cozy cottage apartment located in the backyard of a Decatur lesbian couple. The lesbian couple, who asked not to be identified, is helping Crenshaw and Arnold through Saint Lost & Found, a group formed in November to help Atlanta LGBT homeless youth find immediate housing.
