By Michele Evans
NYweeklyRecord.com
August 10, 2026
Categories: Human Interest • Reentry • Housing • Family • Long Island • Community
LONG BEACH, N.Y. – Some people spend a lifetime running from responsibility.
Tanasia Engleton ran toward it.
After serving seven years in prison, she returned home determined to rebuild her life. She found work, became involved in helping other women reenter society, and eventually met the man who would change the course of her life.
He wasn’t just a father.
He was a widower raising ten children.
Most people would have seen overwhelming responsibility.
Engleton saw a family that needed love.
Today, she helps care for a blended family of twelve children—ten from her boyfriend’s side of the family, including eight children who lost their mother years ago, plus her own teenage son and the young daughter she shares with her boyfriend.
It is a responsibility few people would willingly accept.
For Engleton, it simply became family.
“I love helping people,” she said during a recent interview. “I know how to take on big tasks.”
A SECOND CHANCE
Engleton was only 19 years old when she was sentenced to prison following an arson conviction.
She doesn’t make excuses for her past.
Instead, she talks about growth.
Prison, she says, taught her to control her emotions, appreciate life’s simplest blessings, and understand what truly matters.
“You have no control,” she said of incarceration. “You can’t protect your family. You can’t be with the people you love.”
During those years she focused on self-improvement, studied African American history and spirituality, strengthened her faith, and dreamed of returning home to make a positive difference.
After her release, she worked as an exterminator before becoming a peer navigator, helping young women at risk of entering the foster care system.
Life was finally moving forward.
Then she met the man who would become her partner.
A READY-MADE FAMILY
When Engleton learned about his story, she wasn’t intimidated.
She was inspired.
His wife had died unexpectedly from what the family believes was a medical emergency, leaving behind ten children who suddenly had to navigate life without their mother.
Rather than seeing obstacles, Engleton saw children who needed stability.
For the last four years, she has helped fill that void.
Today, the household includes toddlers, elementary school students, teenagers, and young adults.
Their mornings begin before sunrise.
While her boyfriend heads to work, Engleton prepares children for school and daycare, manages appointments, attends parenting classes, cooks meals, helps with homework, and keeps twelve young lives moving in the same direction.
“It’s making sure everybody stays on track,” she said.
Ask her what brings her the most joy, however, and the answer comes immediately.
“Everybody being happy. Everybody sticking together.”
A FAMILY TESTED
Like many families, theirs has faced unexpected hardship.
According to Engleton, a Child Protective Services investigation involving one child eventually expanded to include the household.
The children were removed.
The once-busy home suddenly became quiet.
“It was an empty house,” she recalled. “We were so used to hearing the kids running around.”
For the children, the separation was heartbreaking.
“They kept asking us when they were coming back.”
Months later, there is finally reason to celebrate.
Most of the children have returned home.
Only one remains separated from the family.
WAITING FOR ONE MORE
The child still waiting is the family’s nonverbal autistic eight-year-old.
Engleton lights up when she talks about him.
She describes him as affectionate, full of personality, and loved deeply by his brothers and sisters.
According to Engleton, the primary obstacle preventing his return is housing.
The family is currently staying in temporary housing while searching for a permanent place large enough for everyone.
She says they have completed parenting classes and continue working with services, but finding a landlord willing to rent to a family this large has proven incredibly difficult.
“We really need a place,” she said.
They are searching for a six-bedroom home in or near Long Beach so the children can remain in the schools and community they know.
MORE THAN A HEADLINE
It would be easy to tell this story only through the lens of incarceration.
That would miss its heart.
This is ultimately a story about choosing responsibility.
Engleton could have focused solely on rebuilding her own life after prison.
Instead, she chose to help raise ten children who had already experienced unimaginable loss while continuing to care for her own children.
Not because anyone forced her to.
Because she wanted to.
“I could have taken the easy way out,” she said. “But these children—that’s what matters more.”
A CALL TO THE COMMUNITY
The family is now asking for something many people take for granted.
A home.
If you are a landlord, property owner, nonprofit organization, faith community, or someone who knows of a six-bedroom rental in Long Beach or the surrounding Nassau County area, your information could make an extraordinary difference.
Finding stable housing could help this family continue working toward bringing every child back under one roof.
Sometimes helping a family doesn’t require writing a check.
Sometimes it simply requires opening a door.
For Tanasia Engleton, hope has survived prison, loss, separation, and countless challenges.
Now she hopes the next chapter begins with a set of house keys.
If you have housing leads or resources that may benefit this family, please contact Michele Evans News or NY Weekly Record so the information can be shared with the family.
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