(cars rumbling) (dramatic music) (motorbike revving) - It's a little bit of a process to get to work.

It's almost a two hour ride from where I live.

Right now I live with my sister, but DCFS requires a place to stay for me and Ava and her mother as a family.

I'll go through what they want me to do for Ava.

Everything's about her.

At 19, I had my first child, my son.

I didn't see it at the time, but my son's mother saw it, that I was heading nowhere fast, you know?

One day she told me, "Why don't you just let your son grow "and stop jumping in and out of his life?"

So I took that and I guess ran away.

I hated that I did that, and I don't want to make that mistake anymore.

(gentle music) My attitude problem before in the past was more like I'm not going to work.

I told myself I don't need this job.

I'm better than this.

My attitude has changed tremendously.

I guess, finally kinda grew up.

- [Woman] Good morning, Andino.

- Good morning, good morning.

How you doing?

Crazy Clean is a disinfecting company that I work for now.

My job at Crazy Clean is I'm a germ genius.

There's a whole jumpsuit I have to wear.

I got a mask.

I got goggles.

I have to get all my PPE.

When I have the whole equipment on, everybody says, here comes Ghostbusters, you know?

- [Man] You ready?

- [Andino] Yeah, yeah, I guess we are like Ghostbusters.

You killing things that you can't see you with the human eye.

- Hello.

- Hi.

- How you doing?

- Good, come on in, guys.

- Okay.

Crazy Clean is a social equity company.

So, as employees, we're part owners, 'cause I'll have shares in the company.

When I'm working I think of my daughter, you know, I think of my daughter and my family and how my work is gonna benefit them.

And not just what I'm physically doing and my physical paycheck, but also my equity shares, you know, my shares in the company, how that's gonna benefit my family in the long run.

So I'm trying to visualize it, you know, my income to work for my family.

(papers rustling) These court fees.

It's crazy.

So they charging me the $2,624 on one case.

On another case, my probation fees and court fees are $1,152.

That's just for Lake County, Illinois.

I still have a Lake County, Indiana case.

And then I have a DuPage County case, which is another $2,000.

So I don't know, the court fees, I gotta do something to pay them.

They're a lot, and this is not all of it.

They charge me to be on probation is what they do.

It makes it hard for me to get ahead.

Even though I'm doing things right, I'm with my family, I'm working, financially, it's pulling me back.

You know, sometimes I think about it, how am I gonna ever get out of debt?

And if I don't pay the fees, they can put me back in jail.

I don't know anybody that got right now that has pocket money like that to pay all them fees and to continue living, continue paying bills, continue going to work.

You know, that's a lot of money.

That's where Kimberly Jones and The Care Program come in.

- How are you?

- I'm good, I'm good.

- I'm so excited- (both laughing) - [Andino] Kara connected me with Crazy Clean.

The Care Program got me the job.

It's basically a program that helps people that are hard to employ.

- So how's it going?

- It's going pretty good.

Real good, actually.

- Okay.

I hear you're a superstar over there.

- (laughs) I don't know about all that, but it's going good.

- That's what I'm hearing.

- [Andino Voiceover] We talked about how's it going at work, my housing situation, and my financial situation.

- So is there anything you can think of outside of that, anything else?

- And then she asked me is there any thing else that I wanted help with?

And I was like, my number one thing right now is my finances right now.

Right now, I feel drowned in debt.

- Okay.

Did you talk to Clinetta?

Have you set up your financial coaching appointment yet?

- I had not set it up, but I did fill out the sheet that she sent me.

I filled that out- - So you got started?

- Yeah, yeah.

I started.

- Okay, cool.

- So she led me in the right direction already.

She hooked me up with somebody from The Care Program.

They reached out to me.

I filled out some paperwork.

So I'm already in the process of trying to figure out how to fix my credit.

I never thought about it before, so I didn't care about the credit before, you know?

So, right now I understand and I see that credit will help me to live better for me and my daughter, you know, my family.

- Let's get a couple of paychecks under our belt, and we can start looking at budgets.

But in the meantime, you can start looking at where you want to live, so you'll know if you can afford it, what you need to do to get to that point.

- Okay.

What's up with the Cabrini Green Legal Aid?

- Okay, they are- - I know there's help out there.

I don't know where to go to sometimes.

And she's helped me with it, to find those groups.

- We believe in lasting success and that involves everything, not just employment, but you as a person.

My role is just to support you as we go through it.

(gentle music) - [Irene] Look at, where's the orange?

- Ava, look.

- Where's orange?

Yeah.

Where's the red flower?

Right there.

Yes!

(Andino and Irene clapping) Good job.

- All right, give me that.

(Ava babbling) Elmo?

Push it.

There you go.

So she got her shots the other day?

- Yeah.

She didn't cry at all.

- Oh, no?

- Nope.

- Big girl.

Woo hoo.

- So she's good now 'til the age of four.

She got all her shots.

- Yeah, 'til the age of four?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Wow.

- Yeah.

- I'm missing a lot of important moments in Ava's life because of my actions, and DCFS won't let me there all the time.

Come on, let's go wash your hands.

Whether they're doctor's appointments or the first Oreo she ate.

The rubber ducky.

I remember Irene sent me a little video clip of Ava.

She's like, "Look, she's eating her first Oreo.

"Look, she's eating her second Oreo."

She was like, "She loves them," you know?

(laughs) She had chocolate all over her.

And I was like, wow, you know?

Them little things they, yeah, I miss.

(grunts) Ready?

All right.

Yes?

- Yes.

- Yes.

Thank god I got a sister that's able to film it and send it to me, you know?

Ava, mas?

Yes?

Mas, mas, mas.

Mas, mas, mas.

Nom, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.

Cookie Monster.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.

So all them little things is more of a reason why Ava runs to my sister, 'cause that's her mother figure, you know, and my brother-in-law, that's her father figure, her dad figures right now.

I bought that potty trainer, but I... How are you gonna start potty training her?

'Cause you got to do it.

- Well, I gotta dedicate a weekend, that's what I did with the girls.

And then know that there's gonna be accidents and there's gonna be little puddles and things.

- [Andino] What do you mean?

You're not gonna have a Pamper on her?

- Right, just a whole day about a Pamper.

And then after that, when she wets herself, then you explain and you go sit her down.

And then you say, yay!

- Ava knows I'm her dad.

At first it was slow.

It was a slow process, you know, a lot slower than what I wanted it to be.

But I understand that, and I know not to force it.

Don't be shy now?

(chuckles) Yeah.

Don't be shy now.

(indistinct) The baby, (smooches).

The baby (kisses), the baby.

After all this DCFS is over with and I get custody, I think it would be a little rough on Irene.

She's been with Ava every day.

- Okay.

Can you say goodnight?

- [Andino] But I also think that they'll love to see Ava grow with me too.

(gentle music) I am not in control of what the judge is gonna do.

She's gonna be two in October, so that's another strike against me really.

The judge looks at that and see if it'll affect her mentally or emotionally if they take her away.

(gentle music) I love my daughter.

I know she loves me.

She's young.

So no matter what DCFS says, I'm never gonna stop being her father.

(gentle music)