BOSTON — When a friend introduced Nyajea to Roca, a violence intervention program, she wasn’t interested.

“I didn’t want anything to do with any programs,“ she said at an event Roca held on Tuesday at the State House. Nyajea, 22, did not disclose her last name at the event. “I’d had enough as a child being removed from my parents’ custody, going into group homes and then running away. ... But my friend knew I was not in a healthy relationship and would need help.”

After she lost custody of her son, she decided to go to Roca in Springfield to better her life. It wasn’t easy, especially after her second child, a daughter, was taken by the Department of Children and Families, but she stuck with the program.

“Now I’m in a transitional housing program,” she said. “My daughter will be home on

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