Losing a father, no matter the circumstances, is difficult at any age. When you're just a kid, it can be devastating.

It certainly was to the three Dawson girls in 2008. The father, who had divorced their mother three years earlier, lost his legal status as their dad that year and moved out of the state.

The mother, Catherine Dawson, tried to hold it together, but with little money and even fewer places to turn, things looked bleak for the family.

That's when Youth Eastside Services (Y.E.S.) stepped in.

Y.E.S. is one of the 13 agencies benefiting from The Seattle Times Fund for The Needy. For more than 40 years, it has provided counseling and other services, regardless of a recipient's ability to pay.

That last clause has been harder to ensure this year, as the recession has drastically increased the number of families who cannot afford to pay.

Of the roughly 25,000 East King County children and families the center helps in a given year, each has a story — often of a struggle with drugs or alcohol, sexual abuse, depression, violence or family strife.

The Dawsons' story began in Omak in October 2002, when Catherine left her husband after an especially angry argument. She took the girls, but little else: only the clothes they were wearing and a couple of boxes of photographs.

They moved to Kenmore, then Kirkland, then Issaquah, alternating between staying with family and living in low-income housing.

The divorce became official in 2005. The father got visitation, but it was a rough experience for the family.

The parents fought frequently. And when the girls went to see their father on visitation, the job of taking care of the two youngest usually fell to the oldest, Faith, who was 8 at the time.

Finally, the situation proved to be too difficult. The father's legal status as a parent was terminated and he moved to Florida, Catherine said.

With no more child-support payments, the family struggled. Catherine couldn't make enough money to support her daughters financially and to be there to take care of them, too. So she moved the family in with her parents in Kirkland.

It was a lot for the kids to take. Each daughter suffered differently.

Felicity, just 8 at the time of the move, became extremely emotionally sensitive. She missed her old friends and her old school and struggled to adapt to her new environment. "She would cry at the drop of a hat," Catherine said.

Caitlyn's frustration manifested itself in the opposite way. Then 10, she also became upset easily, but instead of crying, she would yell ... and yell. Her mom would have to be called in to school or day care because she was "having a fit" in the office and administrators were unable to control her, Catherine said.

Faith may have suffered the most. Those years of taking care of her sisters deprived the then-11-year-old of her childhood. She became anti-social and lashed out at her mother.

"She would say, 'I hate you. You made daddy leave. It's all your fault,'... " Catherine said.

As for Catherine herself, she suffered from bipolar disorder, which she said was aggravated by the stress.

Support came to the family in the form of a Y.E.S. counselor named Kelly Muldoon. An in-school counselor at Rose Hill Elementary School, Muldoon approached Catherine to ask if she was interested in getting help. The girls started individual counseling, with a monthly group session for all the family to come together.

The counseling helped the girls identify the reasons for their behavior and gave them tools to handle their feelings in a more constructive manner.

After going to counseling on and off for 3 ½ years, the girls have made "huge leaps and bounds," Catherine said.

Felicity is now an 11-year-old fifth grader, while Caitlyn is a 13-year-old eighth grader and Faith is a 14-year-old ninth grader. They are hopeful — Felicity wants to be a nurse or a veterinarian, Caitlyn wants to be an author or a songwriter and Faith wants to be a singer.

The girls are still in counseling, and there's still work to be done. But Catherine says Y.E.S. has made a profound impact.

"I don't think we knew how much we really needed help until it was offered," she said. "There's only so much you can do when you're making sure they have food on the table and a bed to sleep in.

"You don't see the problems that are mental or emotional, but they're still there and need to be fixed."

Brian M. Rosenthal: 206-464-3195 or brosenthal@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @brianmrosenthal.