Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

Protesters take part in “Artists Take Fight Against Police Murders” in New York's Times Square August 13, 2015. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Hindu devotees (not pictured) touch a child with their feet as part of a ritual to bless him during a religious procession held to mark the Gajan festival in Kolkata, India, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Children play on a donkey cart belonging to an elderly Afghan refugee sleeping on a roadside on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, February 18, 2015. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

In this November 3, 2019, photograph a child with Down syndrome jokingly gestures to the audience while presenting ponchos displaying drawings inspired by children, during a fashion show dubbed “heART Couture” in Bucharest, Romania.Children with Down syndrome staged a fashion show and performed along a ballet ensemble, two milestone events for the inclusion of people with disabilities in Romania's social life, 30 years after the fall of communism following a violent uprising at the end of 1989. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

The M25 Fire Spinners practise their skills along the Thames path at Runnymede in Surrey, UK on February 22, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Jay/Picture Exclusive)

Long streams of red-hot lava flow down the southeast crater of Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano, seen from Zafferana Etnea, Italy, June 11, 2022. (Photo by Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

The sun rises this morning behind the 173ft spire of St Mary's church in the market town of Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, UK on February 17, 2024. The church dates from the 13th century with the Ashlar faced tower added in the 15th century. (Photo by Andrew McCaren/London News Pictures)