ABC15 reported that Dasha Cook says Maggie's Place gave her until 6 p.m. to pack her belongings and leave its residential shelter with her 4-month-old son. Cook says the exit came after she filed a formal grievance over staff allegedly leaving her baby unattended while she showered; she believes the timing was no coincidence.
According to ABC15, Cook said that on Oct. 1, she asked a staff member to watch her then-3-month-old son, Brandon Jr., while she showered, and found him alone when she returned. An anonymous Maggie's Place mother told the station she witnessed the staff member leave shortly after Cook went to shower, leaving the baby in the common area. Maggie's Place is a Phoenix nonprofit serving homeless mothers and newborns. Its written guidelines from September 2026 prohibited babysitting of any kind on its property.
Cook told ABC15 that staff issued her a written violation over how she responded to finding her son alone: she knocked on a door to ask why he had been left unattended. She said she was penalized for her approach rather than for raising the supervision concern.
A Timeline of Three Violations
Maggie's Place said Cook's exit followed three community-standards violations. The organization identified the first as breaking curfew and the second as how Cook approached staff after finding her son unattended—the incident Cook views as retaliatory. The nonprofit said the third involved an overheard conversation in the common area; Cook denied being part of it.
Stephanie Garippa, Maggie's Place's residential operations director, told Cook by phone that she would be exited from the program over the third violation, ABC15 reported. Cook said she never received written notice of that violation. She was given until 6 p.m. that day to collect her belongings.
Cook said she told Garippa she had nowhere to go and had received only a resource sheet listing other housing options the previous day, after her second violation. According to a recording and texts cited by ABC15, Garippa did not follow up with a hotel or other housing arrangements after that conversation.
Mother Calls the Exit Retaliatory
Cook believes the exit was retaliation for filing a grievance and reporting that her son had been neglected. She said she arrived at Maggie's Place pregnant and without another place to go, stayed there for four months, and expected to remain in the program until her baby turned one year old. Cook said she wants to return to the program.
Maggie's Place told ABC15 that Cook cannot re-enter its residential program but is eligible for alumni services, and that it remains willing to help connect her with other housing options. The nonprofit also said it has since updated its child-supervision policy, requiring staff who agree to watch a child to verbally or physically hand the child back to the mother before stepping away. Maggie's Place said that updated policy has been communicated to all staff members.
No Stable Housing, Waiting on HUD List
Cook is currently staying with a family member but lacks stable housing, and she has applied for assistance through a HUD housing waiting list. A 211 Arizona resource listing describes Maggie's Place as an administrator of housing programs for pregnant and parenting women, with eligibility limited to pregnant women experiencing homelessness who are 18 or older, have no other dependent children in their care, have been substance-free for at least 30 days, have no active warrants, and are free from immediate physical danger or domestic violence.
Cook's situation unfolds against a broader backdrop of family homelessness in the region. The 2026 Point-in-Time Count from the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care identified 611 families experiencing homelessness, totaling 2,103 people, with the number of homeless families up 11% since 2020. Almost all of those families identified in the count were in emergency shelter or transitional housing, the report found, underscoring how narrow the margin can be for mothers like Cook who lose their spot in a program.
Program scope and the county count
Maggie's Place describes its housing and support as serving women experiencing homelessness during pregnancy and the baby's first year, according to the organization's public intake materials. The Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care reported 611 families, totaling 2,103 people, in its 2026 Point-in-Time count—an 11% increase in homeless families since 2020. Almost all families counted were in emergency shelter or transitional housing. The annual count was conducted on a single day in January, so it is a snapshot, not a count of everyone who experienced homelessness during the year.
