Summary: The Effect Of Homelessness On Homeless Children

Abuse and neglect are one of the top three leading causes of youth homelessness. “Studies show 70 percent of homeless youth have suffered some form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse” and “45.7 percent of street

"Homelessness." The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. Eds. W. Edward Craighead and Charles B. Nemeroff. Hoboken: Wiley, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 26 Oct 2015. This article talks about homelessness. The homeless come from single men, single women, adolescents, and families with children. Causing of homelessness are included poverty, unemployment, or other economic conditions; but the most important causes of homelessness are extreme poverty so that they could not afford a house. There are around 750,000 Americans are homeless every night and close to 2 million are homeless in a year. The effects of homelessness

Among the many day to day problems we face in America from drug abuse, high crime rates, and unhealthy eating. Poverty is ranked as one of the top problems. In America today there’s more than 46.7 million people living in poverty. One major effect of poverty is homelessness. According to Homeaid America, as many as 3.5 Americans are homeless. Of these, more than 1 million children and on any given night, more 300,000 children are homeless. Theres many causes of homelessness: lost of family member, domestic violence, splits between spouses. “Other impairments, such as depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are responsible for a large portion of the homeless” (HomeAid).

Do you know that according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are over 138,000 homeless children under the age of 18 in the United States of America? Many of them are unaccompanied as well.

Homeless youth are always dealing with poor nutrition, victimization, substance use, and abuse. Unfortunately the services provided are very limited and cannot help a huge chunk of the homeless youth. Homeless youth experience more substance abuse and drug addiction than non-homeless youth, this causes them to be mentally unstable and unable to be a functioning member of society. There are many temporary services provided such as shelters, drop-ins, meal programs, literacy improvements, and counselling programs; although these are available and there to help the youth, they are all flawed in their own ways.

Homelessness can be a detrimental experience as a result of being exposed to constant stress and unpredictable weather. It may lead to families and individuals having to find a temporary refuge in an unsafe environment, or obtain food from resources that can be harmful. Individuals and families caught in these predicaments frequently are ineptitude in areas of housing stability, managing money skills, coping skills, and support systems which would be significant in helping them modify hardships. As a result, a vast proportion of homeless families, individuals, and children have been exposed to a variety of traumatic occurrences such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, combat-related trauma, sexual assault, and the like.

Homelessness is a complex social issue with a variety of economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, physical and mental health, addictions, and community/family breakdowns. Homelessness has increased its number by at least a 1% since last year, reached nearly 554,000 people who are living in harsh conditions.

“Overall, researchers were able to document a ‘poverty-related effect’ on children’s mental health and behavior” (Bassuk 499). In the state of Michigan there were more than 38,000 homeless children attending public schools in the year 2013 (Seidel A2). Homeless children are at increased risk of dropping out of school because their parents are not aware of the federal law that was passed in 1987 specifically to prevent homeless children from dropping out of school. The law is called the McKinney-Vento law. Prior to 1987 homeless children were unable to meet enrollment requirements in schools because they could not show proof of residency, and did not have school and health records. The McKinney-Vento law ensures that homeless children are immediately allowed to enroll in school without proper documentation. Additionally the law, if followed, compels school districts to provide transportation and school supplies to homeless children, though according to Jeff Seidel of The Detroit Free Press, some districts are hesitant to identify homeless children because it is costly to provide them with supplies and transportation. “Advocates say there's also a disincentive to find homeless children. Once a district finds them, it has to pay to transport them to school and provide other services -- a tough job for many cash-strapped districts” (Seidel

For instance, a study published in 2009 discusses the importance of understanding the different aspects of this population in order to effectively help end youth homelessness. The study notes that are two typical forms of youth homelessness: children living in homeless families and unaccompanied youth. The first group, children living in homeless families, is essentially children who “live in families without a home” (Aratani, 2009, p. 4). Unaccompanied youth, then include those who are runaways, throwaways, and independent youth who have no contact with their family. Additionally, there is a multitude of factors that have been known to contribute to homelessness. These factors include, but are not limited to, lack of affordable housing, economic insecurity, behavioral health, etc. Research has found that the main contributing factors for children living in homeless families are the lack of affordable housing, poverty, and domestic violence (Aratani, 2009). Similarly, mental illness, substance abuse, and lack of affordable housing are the top contributing factors of homelessness among unaccompanied youth (Aratani, 2009). In addition to analyzing the factors that can cause homelessness, the article explores the impact that homelessness can have on youth. For example, homelessness can often lead to food insecurity since food supplies can be scarce, which can then have a negative impact on the child/youth’s overall health. Also, it can lead to juvenile delinquency, troubles with school, and “a greater risk of experiencing mental health problems” (Aratani, 2009, p. 7). When determining what programs and other resources are best fit to help end youth homelessness, it is important to understand the causes and impact of homelessness among youths in the United

According to the National Coalition for the Homelessness, approximately 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year. Over 500,000 people were recorded homeless in the United States in 2015. In just our 5 months into 2016, we have already doubled that number. There 's now well over 100 million homeless people in the US. Roughly 300,000 of those people are children. Homelessness alters people 's lives in many ways. It is an epidemic that is beginning to spread into the industrialized countries. “The world of the homeless is a tough and interesting world.” says actor Paul Dano.

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. An effective way to address the problem of homelessness in America is to continue creating affordable housing, maintaining assistance programs, and continue creating workforce

Homelessness is a widespread problem in the Austin area. On any given day, there are more than 2,000 homeless men, women and children in Travis County. (ECHO) Homelessness a is complex, indiscriminate. Vulnerability to homelessness stems from unevenly distributed factors across many demographics. (Koegel, Melamid, Burnam, 1995) For example, family homelessness has been increasing in the United states in Recent years. Now, more schools and communities are challenged to serve students whose lives are touched by the uncertainty and instability that homelessness brings. (Miller, 2015) People are forced to live destitute without daily necessities like healthy or sanitary food, housing or substantial clothing. There are many efforts city wide to

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).

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. Families are having to spend half or more on just rent leaving little money for other necessities. This makes families vulnerable to fall into homelessness. The CHPC released a report that found only 1 million affordable homes. The

In the article “Ignoring Homeless Families,” Greg Kaufman claims that increasing family homelessness is not an accident, rather it is the result of the horrible decision made together by us, the people of the nation, and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “abandon homeless children and their families.” First and foremost, Kaufmann’s main point in the article is to explain why family homelessness is increasing. Well, it is the result of the decision made by us and the HUD and also because we are focusing our “fiscal and human capital” only on single adults. The statistics provided by Kaufmann prove the previous point made because there has been a 13 percent decline in “chronically homeless single adults,” whereas at the