Homelessness is when people are without a proper residence. They often struggle to care for their basic needs. There are many factors that trigger homelessness some of which include: loss of job, relationship breakdown, domestic violence, mental or physical health problems, and drug or alcohol abuse. People who are leaving an institution are also more exposed to becoming homeless for example a person leaving a hospital or a prison. Homelessness in Ireland is increasing significantly. The Department of the Environment reveal that over 3,143 people, including 1,118 children are homeless in Ireland at present. There is no doubt that being homeless has a serious impact on a person’s well-being. It can affect people in many different ways and on many different levels. Being homeless and the whole struggle of dealing with the situation is different for everyone. But what is the effect of homelessness on children? …show more content…
The child’s development is already effected before it is even born. The majority of homeless parents are single women, who have a high tendency to engage in alcohol and drug abuse even when pregnant. The baby may suffer from serious health problems such as defects of the face, fingers, arms, and legs. The baby is also at a higher risk of premature birth or even stillbirth. Homeless infants (1-12 months) are prone to infectious disease due to a lack of immunisations and little access to health care. A toddler (1-3 years) may suffer from development delays which may lead to behavioural and emotional problems in the future. The social, physical and academic aspects of children (3-12 years) will also be dramatically
Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids :Summary In “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our kids”(2001), Anna Quindlen claims that “There are many homeless mothers and children”(332).Quindlen addresses this issue by needing to find homes for many children the past month (“thousands”) ,as well for those families that wait by their belongings until found a room to sleep. The population of homelessness people isn’t decreasing it’s increasing rapidly. She reveals these problems in order to inform people the outrages numbers of homeless families ,and also “explains some of the effects of homelessness on children,emphasizes the importance of affordable housing,and touches on the effects of welfare reform on homelessness”(329).
There are three main factors that lead to homelessness which are structural factors, system failures and individual and relational factors. The structural factors is when a person is affected by economic and societal issues that affect their opportunities and social environment for example, the lack of adequate income and/or the experience of discrimination may lead to homeless. Furthermore, the system failures occur when the support from individual’s family and care fails resulting people become homeless helplessly. The third factor is individual and relational factors in which family violence and extreme poverty plays a role. The family with violence, abuse, addiction, mental health problems of other family members and extreme poverty can lead to being homeless.
The National Center on Family Homelessness at American Institutes for Research (NCFH) released a report exposing that 2.5 million children are homeless in America. (Mclean, 2015) California is the wealthiest state in the country but ranked third worst in the extent of homelessness, the second worst in policy, and in the lower half of the US in terms of risk and wellbeing, making it the third worst US state for child homelessness overall. (Mclean, 2015) Rent is increasing as income is decreasing or staying the same.
Essay on The Homeless Introduction to Human Resources Columbia college By Kawana Roberts The issue of contemporary homelessness has took a huge shift from the common perception of homeless people. I am witnessing a shift from the image of ‘homelessness’ being a physically dirty, pan handling, poor, uneducated individual who does not have a physical home for shelter. Initially, I failed to recognize that ‘homelessness’ can be a temporary state on can live in. Not all homeless people are homeless by “choice”, sometimes people are homeless by “force”.
People make many assumptions about the homeless. Perhaps the most common is that homeless people are too lazy to work, for the vast majority of homeless people, the assumption that they are lazy is dead wrong. Many people who are fortunate enough to have a home see the lives homeless people have and wonder why they wouldn't do something to help themselves in that situation. “ Individuals and families who experience homelessness may not share much in common with each other, aside from the fact that they are extremely vulnerable, and lack adequate housing and income and the necessary supports to ensure they stay housed. The causes of homelessness reflect an intricate interplay between structural factors, systems failures and individual circumstances.
Homelessness is very real in the United states with 3.5 million Americans left without a place to call home each year. There is a strong stigma against homeless individuals who are seen as chronic and episodic, but in reality, those seen living on the streets in downtown areas of cities are families with children. The vast majority have been thrust into homelessness through a life altering situation that was unexpected and unplanned for. One of the harsh realities is that homeless individuals and families tend to come from communities of concentrated poverty. Many factors lead to pushing people onto the streets and occasionally, these same factors can be the reason they stay homeless.
Children born into homelessness can be at higher risk for infectious disease, stunted growth rate, and anemia. These deficiencies can be caused by environmental factors and poor nutrition(Hart-Shegos 2). In the novel, the Tillerman children all struggle to be accepted in school because of their obvious differences, likely caused by the time they spent homeless. They have experienced great hardships that they could not control, for example, their delayed development. This can be explained by, “Studies of pregnant women in New York City welfare hotels have shown their babies are twice as likely to weigh less than five pounds at birth when compared to all pregnant women.
These can all contribute to the level of homelessness in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2011). Being homeless can mean that you are socially excluded from your community. For the homeless this can mean a greater risk of them having poor physical health, an increased personal safety risk and their psychological well-being is also a lot worse off. The homeless have lost the basic human rights of having a stable living life, health
Homelessness is not a new issue as it has already existed for many years ago and the existence of homeless people is often being ignored. The reasons why they end up sleeping on the streets is largely because of individual factors (Main, 1998), which is contributed by structural factors (Cyndy Baskina, 2007). It is unsure whether homeless people choose to end their lives in this way or are among the victims of situations? Many researchers contribute homelessness to structural factors but advocates of human rights debunk this and highlights that the main reason for homelessness is due to mostly individual
Despite this, the importance of a healthy environment is emphasized, specifically in families with young children. Thus, parents are often forced to decide between the health and safety of their children when they encounter domestic violence and financial instability. Furthermore, it is predicted that the children raised in homelessness will be unable to escape that way of life. The continuation of this trend reflects the effects of inadequate education and the common development of unstable mental health in youth (CMHC, 2003). As awareness of the growing homeless population increases the governmental and local efforts to address this issue also
Children are becoming victims of homelessness too and this puts pressure on them because their peers might have nice homes, luxurious items, and name brand clothes; meanwhile they might have to wear the same outfit every
The issue of homelessness in America has been evident since the early 1600’s. Across the country men, women and children spend their nights on the streets not knowing when or if they will ever find a permanent home. States and federal officials or city councils have tried to alleviate or at least reduce the number of homeless over the last several decades at a city, state or national level but it continues to be an ongoing problem. There is a multitude of factors that account for the growing homeless population that affects each state in the country differently. Though there are many contributing factors that contribute to the amount of people living on the street at any given night in the U.S.
Child Homelessness There are many issues that come with child homelessness when you do not have a stable place to live, and not even an address. Ncsl.org claims that 1 in 30 youth (13-17) experience homelessness each year. What is child homelessness? How do we stop it?
Nearly 26% of the homeless population are people under the age of 18. Which explains why they have no education and that they cannot provide for themselves. Many kids that are homeless do not have a family which is the reason why they became homeless in the first place. Some homeless people are disqualified to get a job because they not go to school. Which makes it harder for them to read a newspaper, get a driver’s license or even to fill out a job application.
Homeless services in Ireland have changed quite significantly over the past few years and there has been more of a public focus and public outcry for more resources to be put into the housing sector to get more people off the street. People would generally see homelessness as living on the streets, however both the FEANTAS and the 1988 Housing Act have looked to create a more comprehensive definition of homelessness. The European federation that works with homelessness is FEANTAS and they have created a typology in ETHOS which shows that homelessness is not just something that happens out of nowhere but is a process that can include a variety of living situations which can equate to being homeless, this includes: “rooflessness (without a shelter