On an average night in Los Angeles, California 44,359 people will sleep on the streets and in shelters. Homelessness is described as having no home or permanent place of residence, and is a growing issue today in The United States as well as worldwide. In Los Angeles, California 41,174 people are homeless , two years ago only 35,524 people were without homes , an increase of sixteen percent. Homelessness rates have skyrocketed, especially those of minors. Children under the age of eighteen are at the highest risk for displacement, surpassing veterans and the disabled. One in seven teens between the age of ten and eighteen years old run away from home and are left without shelter, food, or any source of income. Los Angeles is ranked the third highest city for …show more content…
Foster care can juggle a child between biological parents, host families, orphanages, and often the courthouse. Twenty-eight thousand children are currently in foster care in Los Angeles County, and fourteen hundred children in foster care are awaiting adoptive families. The transition from foster care to an adult independent life can live an eighteen year old alone fighting to survive. When a foster child becomes a legal adult, they begin their self-reliant life usually without a job and no income to support themselves. Without a support system such as a family or group of friends, it makes it even more difficult mentally to provide for oneself, especially upon discharge of foster care. Over seventy five percent of homeless youth who are in foster care will drop out of high school, and as low as three percent will graduate from college. It has been recorded that homeless teens who come from foster care become homeless earlier in their lives and remain without a permanent home for an extended period of