Caring for two small children, and without the money and support she desperately needed, Amber Rose literally collapsed into a gutter, crushed by the weight of her dysfunctional past. LAURA TURNER lays bare the courage of a young mother who reached out for help - and found it.

UNDER street lighting, a lonely figure cuts a path along Mildura’s backstreets, every footfall on the pavement sending another shot of pain through her lower back.