Preview

Homeless in America

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1695 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Homeless in America
Families live, die and are born on the streets of vast cities of United States. Less attention are shown to those who are homeless, people focus more on bigger issues when this is a major problem that has occurred for years. Statistics shows that 1.6 million youth run away from home each year between the ages of 12 and 17. The predominant race for runaways is White non-Hispanic (57%), Black non-Hispanic (17%), Hispanic (15%), and Other (11%) follow (Blaha). Homeless children most likely leave their original homes because of the way of life and the hard pressure due to their living environment and family issues. Homelessness makes children sick, wounds young children, & homeless children often struggle in school. Homeless children are in fair or poor health twice as often as other children. They have higher rates of low birth weighted need special care right after birth for times as often as other children. Also have very high rates of acute illness, with half suffering from two or more symptoms during a single month. Despite state and federal efforts to provide homeless children with improved access to public school, at least one-fifth of homeless children don 't attend school. This is because they either have no transportation from the shelters to school or lack of school and medical records makes registration harder. Daily demands off finding food and shelter push children 's educational needs aside.
Homelessness and poverty are linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, which must be dropped. Being poor mean being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.
Homelessness and street life have extreme effects on children. Their unstable lifestyles, lack of medical care, and inadequate living conditions increase young

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In her article “ Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids.” Anna Quindlen discusses the issue about homeless families in the United States and the impact of homelessness on the children. Quindlen describes one situation where six people, a woman and five children, live together in a room the size of a master bedroom. The idea, Quindlen says, is that the ineffectiveness of the welfare system has negative impact on families, particularly, mothers and their offsprings . She poses the statement that each day the younger children go to daycare, while the others go to school. During that time their mother, Sharanda, looks for an apartment when she isn’t at her drug-treatment meetings. Quindlen suggests that ultimately shelters will become the…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the research of children of homelessness I found that being a child is difficult; but, it is even more difficult when your family is poor, and unsecure. Imbalances within the family can be difficult even without outside influences making it even more difficult. We as teachers see more than parents think we do; wemay notice that a child shows up dirty to class, or seems distracted all the time. This is when we as teachers need to find out what exactly is going on with our students and their family. As a teacher we need to discuss how we will deal with children who are struggling, how we as teachers will connect with families and the different strategies that can be used to support students and families within their learning environment. As I researched the why homelessness occurs I also found that these children are a byproduct of the life they were dealt whether by being a single parent, a fatherless home, immigrants or homeless with nowhere else to go. Knowing what we can do as Early Educators to help homeless children and their families has become very important in schools. In these synopses you will find some information that will give you a better understanding of homeless children and what we can do as educators to help them overcome this obstacle in their life…

    • 262 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    This research assessed the struggles of homeless children. The study compared the educational struggles of a random sampling of children living in stable environments to children who are considered “homeless.” Homeless refers to any child or youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The study revealed the number of homeless children is steadily increasing. However, despite the instability of a home life, a positive school environment for children and youth impacts their success as adults. It is recommended to promote community awareness regarding child…

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book Homeless Families In America, Jonathan Kozol focuses on four important issues of poor children under six: Who they are, where they live, why they are poor, and the risks poor children face. The information presented pertains to children who live in houses and apartments because this is the population founded by household surveys. "According to three national studies homeless children aged 16 and under, somewhere 41,000 and 106,000 children are literally homeless at any given time" (36). Homeless meaning they live in shelters, churches, or public places with no permanent residence. "Between 39,000- 296,000 are precariously housed, meaning they live with either relatives or doubled up with friends" (38). Why are poor families with young children poor? It is believed that children are poor because their parents are poor. Child poverty can only be reduced by attacking the multiple causes of family poverty. "Children under the age of six with single mothers are much more likely to be poor than…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Children are vulnerable and need physical, mental, and emotional protection. When a family is poor or homeless, the family may have trouble meeting his or her needs.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This youth has abandoned the only life they have ever known in hopes for in finding a more deserving one they see fit. Outcasting themselves from their life from abusive relationships, economic troubles, and a government record induces a desperate desire for them to flee. The homeless youth are compelling themselves to believe there is no other option than running away from home. This drastic decision has led some of them to take unhealthy measures to survive by depending on sex for food, shelter, and other basic human needs, while others are battling an addiction with drugs or alcohol, and in the end dependency on both of these lead most homeless youth to decrease in mental health.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lgbtq Youth Thesis

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Homelessness in the United States is a growing issue among our youth, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services homeless and runaway youth is estimated to between 575,000 to 1.6…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bassuk, E. L. (2010), Ending Child Homelessness in America. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80: 496–504. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01052.x…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Homelessness is the condition of people without a permanent dwelling, such as a house or apartment.” In the United States over 500,000 people, almost a quarter of them children, were homeless this year. That’s over half a million-people living on streets, cars and or homeless shelters. 49,933 people, veterans to be specific, were identified across the United States as homeless, 51% of these homeless veterans have disabilities, 50% have serious mental issues, 70% have a substance abuse problem. Nearly one-quarter, 23% of the homeless are children under the age of 18. 10% are between the ages of 18 and 24, and 66% are over the age of 25.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Senior paper

    • 1915 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Nearly 6.5 million young Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 are not in school or the work force.” (Emmons) Sadly every year there are millions of children experiencing homelessness, these children are living in cars, shelters, and abandoned buildings. (Doorways for Women…) Being homeless causes these children to relocate constantly, which results in being pulled out of school and away from their peers. Children are more than likely to become homeless after being physically abused, sexually assaulted, or by family circumstances of financial troubles. In order to survive on the streets young teens are more likely to turn to drug dealing or exchanging sex for food, clothing and shelter. Today’s society has become oblivious to what has been occurring on the streets with these teens. They see no use in helping homeless youth due to the knowledge of homeless people taking money or help for granted. American society today does not understand the hardships homeless youth go through to survive living on the streets: like not having the work experience to get a job, not having the education needed to move further in life, learning and growing up with the influences of the streets and health issues. Parts of society have ignored and mocked the uprising issues of homelessness in youth. They choose not to offer help based on the stereotyping of homeless people. Homeless people are see as very sly, only using the money they are given for drugs and other usages not benefiting them. Society views teens crashing at a peers house as a temporary thing until it becomes a financial consequence.…

    • 1915 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lack of education is a direct cause of homelessness. Homeless people did not get the proper education that could help them to have a good plan for their future. Most of the homelessness get settles for their high school…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poverty is viewed as the underbelly of society, a topic continuously being pushed to the shadows. Unspoken, yet commonly seen, the homeless are pressured from the streets by the desire to give the impression of cleanliness that society so desperately tries to obtain and preserve. The homeless seem to be a necessity of society, someone needs to fall for others to grow. The eradication of poverty is a continuous goal of many individuals, yet it unceasingly persists even in the most developed of countries. But is this a choice of the people in the society or the natural order of things?…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Homelessness In America

    • 3380 Words
    • 14 Pages

    In a section titled “Causes of Youth Homelessness,” it first stated that the “same factors that contribute to adult homelessness such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, low education levels, unemployment, mental health, and substance abuse issues, can also play a role in the occurrence and duration of a youth's homelessness.” These were good points that brought up questions in regards to parent-youth relationships and some of the long-term effects, which I decided to come back to later. Furthermore, it said that beyond these factors, “the phenomenon of youth homelessness is largely a reflection of family dysfunction and breakdown, specifically familial conflict, abuse, and disruption,” which I agreed with. Though the article did not specify further, some types of conflicts that came to mind were disputes over risky behavior such as promiscuity, opposing views on discipline, and sexual orientation. When it comes to domestic abuse there are many layers including physical, emotional, sexual, and mental that, along with the conflicts, leads to the deterioration of families. The brief continued to say that youth usually enter a state of homelessness as a result of running away from home- which the desire and reaction of escaping from these predicaments is understandable- or from being abandoned by their guardians. Additionally, it stated that family conflict is “more critical for youth than adults since they are, by virtue of their developmental stage in life, still largely financially, emotionally, and, depending on their age, legally dependent upon their…

    • 3380 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homelessness has a devastating impact on children and their educational opportunities. When their grades are…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Homeless

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages

    2. Economically they are at a high risk of losing what little they already have.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays