Child Homelessness Essay

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? What are the major problems that come with child homelessness? What is child homelessness? Child homelessness is when a child does not have a safe place to live and no permanent address. According to Acumen-an organization working to fight poverty-it is estimated that there are about 131,000 children that are reported homeless, which is expected to grow. It can happen for a few different reasons. Some children become homeless because they experience violence at home and run

We can prevent youth homelessness in a number of ways. We can prevent youth homelessness by extending foster care. Around 31-46% of youth leaving foster care end up homeless by age 26. Chapin Hall-an establishment at the University of Chicago that generates evidence to support changes for the good and works with the government, organizations, etc.-found benefits to extending foster care. Some of which are that youth are more likely to finish high school and go to college; they are less likely to become pregnant at a young age; they are more successful at work; and they are less likely to commit a crime or be arrested. Many, but not all states have extended foster care. By extending foster care, youth will have a safe place to stay longer, which lowers the chance they will become homeless. Another way we can prevent youth homelessness is by increasing financial and housing support. We want a $400 million increase in the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program-a program that supports youth foster care and gives money to help. At 14, children become eligible for this option until they are 27 years old. If we increase financial and housing support, youth who get out of foster care will have an easier way to find an affordable place to live. Another way we can prevent child homelessness is by expanding education opportunities. By receiving $50 million from the John H. Chafee Independence Program, youth can have more education opportunities which will

Some major problems are that they can ruin their lives with child homelessness (many become drug addicts/alcoholics), they can’t get a job when they’re older because they don’t have an address so the younger generations that come after them also become homeless and it is a whole cycle. Homelessness can break a child like it broke Zoe. According to Mission Australia (2018), an organization that believes every child should have access to a safe home and has helped about 150,000 Australians just last year, Zoe was a 16 year old girl who got kicked out of her home. She claims that as long as she could remember, she had been abused by her stepdad. She had finally gotten the courage to tell her mom about it, but she denied it and told Zoe she was, “Making it all up.” and kicked her to the streets. Zoe spent months in homeless shelters, hostels, parks, and abandoned buildings. She started to feel desperate and overwhelmed all of the time and suffered from extreme depression and anxiety. She became so depressed, she felt as if commiting suicide was her only option. She attempted suicide after months living on the streets. She later got help from the hospital's mental health teams and from Mission Australia. Thanks to all of the help she received, she now is living in an affordable settlement and has many support networks. Zoe’s story tells us that child homelessness is something that no child should ever have to go through.