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No Place to Call Home: Youth
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- i rule. this is Josh Hernandez. if anyone wants to ... - joshshwaaa
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Young people end up on the street for a variety of reasons. Some are fleeing their parents' or guardians' neglect or abuse. Addiction and family disputes can often exacerbate already tenuous situations. These kids tend to hang together for protection, learning from each other how to access services and avoid detection from authorities that might try to send them home. In some ways, they have fewer options than their adult counterparts, since many of them can't legally work and most have no work experience. And simply staying in school can be a major challenge when there are daily concerns about securing food, shelter and healthcare. What's more, their numbers — in Oregon and around the country — seem to be on the rise.
In the next installment in our No Place to Call Home series, we will hear from homeless youth.
Were you homeless as a young person? How did that impact the rest of your life? What choices did you feel like you had about your living situation?
Do you work with homeless youth? What patterns have you noticed among young people without a home?
Tagged as: homeless · noplace · youth
Photo credit: drburtoni / Creative Commons
COMMENTS: (20 total)
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This young woman may have RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and not, currently have the ability to accept your kindness or help. I suggest reading about this disorder to give you some insight into your foster child and how to work with her. It will take awhile.
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I am a Shelter Manager for a youth shelter. We serve youth in crisis in the surrounding counties. I wanted to state that the comment made about youth wanting to BE homeless is a VERY unique situation. I have been with this shelter for about 6 years now and have worked with a variety of youth and families. What I can tell you is that youth seek support, love, positive people/enviroments, and STRUCTURE. If they don't have that there world is chaos and functioning as society sees "right" is out of the picture.
Youth are a very delicate and wonderful population in our world. It takes time to gain their trust and really make a difference but if the right people (caring individuals) stick with it...things can change!
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I am a caseworker at a homless youth shelter, and I totally agree with KendraSue. If the caring individuals stick with it, things can change--and do. I have witnessed it myself. Kids need to trust someone, and they need validation. We can give them these things in small ways, such as actively listening, validating their feelings, or expressing interest in musical or artistic talent. We need to notice what makes a young person unique and then encourage that. For most traumatized youth, this attention from an adult is rare and welcomed. It can make them feel valued and can give them direction they desperately need to walk forward.
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Currently I attend college at Oregon State University and plan on graduating in the spring with a major in human services, I have had the great privilege to work at a youth shelter for the past 2 1/2 year. As a lead case worker I perform many jobs including, maintaining a safe, secure and stable environment, mentoring to youth, advocating to community members and most importantly, being a consistant conforming adult figure in shelter residents lives. A consistant, stable environment facilitates healthy development for youth to learn and grow. The process takes time but can be achieved with opportunities and support.
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I appreciate individuals, groups, and community members that support homeless youth and strive for a future where the homeless are not ostracized. The public needs to be educated and aware of the growing homeless youth population and knowledgeable of the opportunities available for youth.
Anyone considering working or currently working with youth needs to stay current and up to date on certifications and educating themselves.
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I was a homeless youth back in the eighties when the last somewhat serious recession hit. Although the circumstances of my situation were both economic and social I happened to turn out pretty well.
I was only without a home for roughly two and a half years but it was a time I will always look back on fondly. That's the interesting part of my journey. When I have told people that my mother threw me out of the house when I was fourteen for getting a mohawk haircut they often feel sorry for me.
They way I look at things now I most certainly benefitted from my experience as a homeless teen. Maybe not so for many other kids that I knew but not everyone can handle life in the same way.
I'm fourty now, have gone to university, have had a few careers, inicluding my most current as a freelance journalist, am married and am a home owner.
The best way that I can say that being homeless as a youth impacted the rest of my life is that now things aren't a big deal. Just about everything that life has tossed my direction isn't anything compared to having to sleep on the street, be scared for my safety and not know where my next meal will come from.
But as I said before I do look back on some of those days fondly because youth is a precious thing... even on the street.
Thanks,
Jason Howd, Portland
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I am in my mid-30's and grew up in Sweden. When I was 16/17 I had friends that legally moved away from their parents (parents' legal financial responsibility ended at 16). They found their own apartment or room to let.
I do not understand why the teenagers in Portland are not able to live a normal life with their own apartments and their own jobs/education? Are there legal obstacles or social pressures keeping these teens outside a stable lifestyle? Why are there people trying to pressure them to go back to their family?
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I grew up in Sweden too. I think your friends who moved out from their parents probably had a lot more support from their parents and from society in the form of subsidised rent, studiebidrag (monthly allowance from the state) etc.
Teens in Sweden are usually granted a lot more freedom AND responsibilities than most american youths and I think they are taught a lot more in school and at home about how to live an independent life. Plus society takes care of you a lot more!
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In Sweden and Norway, children have access to free education after high school any time they qualify, apply or need it for a job. The minimum wage is what we would call a livable wage here--something homeless youth rarely can earn. Healthcare for anyone is available in Sweden and Norway. Here, even if children have healthcare, there is little mental health benefits beyond a pill to control mood. Thus we have a self medicating society. With the health issues and wages, plus education, a 16 year old in Sweden can get an apartment. Here, a 16 year old needs legal documents or someone else to sign the rental contract.
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I left home at 15 after the rather typical upbringing that makes someone leave home. The hardest thing is that, even though you are technically not equipped to make all the decisions of your life, you just can't ever trust another to make them for you. That is why many kids leave foster care, because they just can't let anyone tell them what to do. How do you trust people, that they have your best interest in mind, even more than you do?
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i am 17 and have never experienced homelessness. i am curious whether living on the streets is a choice for most homeless youth or if it is forced. i also wonder are there any misconceptions about homeless you the could be proven wrong?
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I've directed a day shelter for at-risk and homeless teens in Salem for about 15 years. Regarding legally moving away from parents, that would mean emancipation which has pretty rigid requirements such as a teen must be at least 16, able to support themselves, live on their own and have proof of these things, such as stable employment. They need to file with the courts, have a hearing and a judge will decide whether or not to grant the emancipation and the parents need to be notified.
One of the problems faced by homeless and runaway youth is the lack of alternative short- and long-term shelter or housing if reunification with the family is not an option. Portland has a decent continuum of shelters but the rest of the state, especially in the rural areas have very little. Even the few federally funded shelters have time limits around how long a teen can stay. If we are unable to immediately place youths into a shelter or Job Corps, the longer they stay on the streets and become immersed into that culture, the more difficult it is for them to pull away. And even so, it can take many months or even years for some of these discouraged and disenfranchised young people to become emotionally and physically stable enough to begin positively connecting with the realities of the larger adult world.
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I have no experience at all with homeless children or youth. I am just horrified by the girl's story who's mother went to jail when she was 12. Does the Police not have any responsibility to check what happens to children when they arrest and put people away??? Especially when she called the jail to look for her mother. They didn't send someone out to pick her up? What kind of society is this?
/erika
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In the 1980s, I was part of many Portlanders that pushed to open the Green House for homeless youth. It discouraged me beyond belief that it took well over (then) $50,000 of charitable donations, let alone volunteer time, to get one homeless youth of the street. One could have gone to Harvard for near two years for that price. The potential being lost and the friction to society of turning youngsters on to the street, many through no fault of their own, is a problem still with us. It is a problem for all of us that has few simple solutions, but the best is to know about it and work with children and parents in crisis much earlier than teenagehood to help solve such a social issue.
If given one thing to do, I'd fix the foster care system. A system that dumps even the best children who want to succed on their heads at 18 can't be good for troubled children. Not telling foster care parents about the problems of a child (thus taking them out of the solution and putting them into a land of discovering what is going on) is a real problem in attracting the foster parents we'd like to see volunteer.
Blessings to those who can and do help.
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I was on the streets from 15-19 due to circumstance and an attitude born out of sadness, anger, frustration and deep hurt. As a young woman I had a crash course in both the best and worst of humanity, through those experiences I bonded with others who similarly lived in that reality. Where I had never experienced unconditional love, trust, or emotional safety within my birth family, I now found it with my brothers & sisters of the street who bond out of a need to forge community and find safety in not being isolated out there. Like myself these "lost kids" got 'it'. 'It' being the difficulty that exists and the will to try to survive in the underbelly of the world. I was lucky, I found my way. But, to those who question about street kids, for some, like myself, the community of the streets is the first place they feel love. Born out of the darkness and uglyness that exists out there, the small rays of kindness bind kids together like nothing else I've experienced. I'm now in my 30's. I have 3 children. I have a University degree. While I wouldn't say those years on the street were 'good', I don't regret them. They taught me how to survive, how to see the truth in people, how to be cautious, and how to be generous--when people shared the very little they had, the gift of generosity was magnified like nothing I'd experienced. The streets aren't kind. They aren't gentle. They are hard, cold, wet, and can be scary. But surviving them together can forge a bond between kids that is hard to break. When kids say they 'liked' being homeless. Perhaps this is what they mean.
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The risks these young people are exposed to when they are without a safe place to live is appalling. Unfortunately, Oregon’s state legislature seems content to stand on the sidelines and “hope” these youth will get lucky. Like it or not, these youth are our youth.
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My regards to you Josh and Shayla. Those of us who work with youth know how hard you are working. Your resilience is a testimony to the ability to survive and succeed against all odds. Carry on!
As a former youth advocate and counselor I have worked with many youth who are just begining of the journey of homelessness or are at risk for becoming homeless. Most (not all) youth end up in this situation due to lack of nurturing, safety and basic needs.
Our state system does not see homeless youth as a high risk area. I have had workers tell me the youth "is street savvy enough, to survive," "should just go home," "is uncooperative," "not in enough trouble," etc...most of these kids do not get on the radar until there is a crime that they are involved in.
There is nothing more heartbreaking than watching a kid slip thorough the cracks. Local community resources of the type that were discussed, neighbors, friends, local programs, are often the best route.
We do need to work to gain the trust back...basic needs are a great way to start. Why should these kids trust us? Our society has failed them
Our youth are our future, how are we taking care of our future?
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The thing that truly astounds me is how agencies dealing with children handle the sexual deviants who gravitate to them:
As a young orphan during the early 70's the state had custody of me. I didn't tell anyone about it, but a caseworker sexually molested me. Soon I had another caseworker who commented that my former caseworker was asked to resign after the state "found out what he was into."
Years later I worked for a federal agency providing education/training to young people. It came to light that an employee had been sexually involved with a seventeen-year-old student. He was "asked" to resign.
Why workers engaging in practices like these are asked to resign in lieu of being fired and prosecuted probably has something to do with liability issues. The problem is they just go find another job in the profession they've chosen and become a permanent liability to the young people they're supposed to be serving
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i rule. this is Josh Hernandez. if anyone wants to know more of my story. you can Email me at joshshwaaa@live.com
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I am a foster parent who had a homeless 14 year ol girl placed with her in Sept. By October she had run 3 times, stolen jewlery, money, and eaten everything in sight. She said she liked being homeless. She liked the freedom. I've had foster kids steal from me before and eat me out of house and home but, this girl was different. She had a diiferent demeaner and attitude. There were no boundaries, nothing was sacred. What do homeless youth really want? This girl didn't want warmth, safety, food, or help. Is she what the average homeless youth is like?