Imagine seeing a six-year-old child on the street with tears streaming from his immense, pitiful eyes hoping that one day he can attend school, live in a house, or even get a chance to play with toys. Children’s early experiences shape who they are and affect lifelong health and learning. However, a homeless child lacks opportunities such as safe and stable housing, nurturing and responsive parenting, as well as high-quality learning opportunities from home and school. Thus, it is clear that homelessness has negative developmental effects on a child mentally, socially, and academically.
Firstly, homelessness has an impact on a child’s mental state. For children to grow, learn, and master the developmental tasks of childhood, they must be physically and emotionally healthy. A homeless child is raised without the constant nurture of parents, because many parents are pre-occupied with tending to the family’s housing problems or taking care of themselves. Author Ellen Hart-Shegos (1999) states that homeless children are at “increased risk for mental health problems due to high levels of stress and trauma they experience.” Homeless children are in a constant state of worry and are scared about having no place to live or sleep. The endless anxiety and concern can “stress their developing systems, including lack of sleep, hunger, and increased levels of stress hormones.” (Smith, 2010) Eventually, a child can become depressed from anxiety and the stress to the body. Homeless
Homeless children is more of a problem than people realize. Children who are homeless have a greater chance of having heath problems than the other children since they do not have access to medical and dental care. "Children who lack a stable home are vulnerable to a number of adverse outcomes" (Child). These children are more likely to repeat a school grade, be expelled from school, and even drop out of high school. Most homeless children have experienced violence and they now suffer from anxiety and depression. There are two types of homeless children. One type is called "Family Homeless" which is when a child is separated from their parents and placed into foster care or they are living with some of their family members. The other type is called "Unaccompanied Youth" which is when children are out on their own and have no one with them which includes the runaway youth. It is very hard to count the number of homeless children because their living situation changes frequently.
The homeless are impacted far more by everyday issues than those who are not. Often times, homeless children can be sick four times as much as middle class children and have superior rates of acute and recurring illnesses. In addition, they experience emotional and behavioral problems can hinder with learning at almost three times the rate of other children. “Homeless children between 6 and 17 years struggle with high rates of mental health problems. For example, 47% have problems
course between a twenty-five year span of the 1980’s to 2013. They reviewed journal articles, government reports, and news stories to find any changes in conditions or the amount of family and childhood homelessness. The review concluded family and childhood homelessness still exists but at a larger scale than in the earlier years and a decrease in the attention given to childhood and family homelessness. They also reported some of the factors leading to family and childhood homelessness were the decline in economic conditions, increase of evictions, economic inequality, and domestic violence. The review also noted a negative impact on a child’s health and well-being and a child’s behavioral health. Rent subsidies and shelter based programs have shown evidence to aid in preventing childhood and family homelessness. They made suggestions to increase nutritional programs as well as health and mental health services. This review supports my claim that homelessness affects children in many ways and the number of homeless children in America is growing.
There are millions of homeless youth in America. On any given night, you can find these children ducking into abandoned buildings, crammed up against alley dumpsters, curled inside the big yellow slide of a local playground. I imagine they are thankful for sleep, wary of a new day, but thankful nonetheless. Homelessness at such a young age if left alone, leads to increased rates of conflict. The more homeless youths now, the more our country as a whole will have to deal with divorce, mental illness, and the need for government assistance.
Homelessness is a pressing issue that affects everyone all over the world, of all ages, all race and all sexes. There is an inexcusable amount of young people who are homeless. 17% of all homeless people are under the age of twelve. That could be the age of a younger sibling. Imagine if they were homeless, living on the streets. This is the reality that some have to face
This article takes a critical look at the negative effects on children’s who are living with relatives or friends as a result of their family not being able to financially afford housing. The federal definition of homelessness that all U.S. public schools use includes children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The law recognizes that living doubled-up is a hardship and an inherent barrier to academic success, and that’s why students living doubled-up are eligible for homeless services under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Dill, 2015). Since, homelessness generally follows a traumatic event such as divorce, foreclosure, incarceration or job loss, children are more susceptible to present behaviors
The lack of mental health services available to the mentally-ill and the deinstitutionalization of mental health hospitals have created a public health concern. These issues along with a failed continuum of care plans and a lack of community mental health services have been major contributing factors to homelessness. In addition, the strict guidelines for psychiatric hospitalization are critical when analyzing homelessness. In many cases, only the critically ill are meeting clinical criteria for hospitalization, leaving those who have significant mental health problems to fend for themselves. The link between homelessness and mental health is acknowledged but requires reform.
In Judy Daniels’ article entitled "Humanistic Interventions for Homeless Students: Identifying and Reducing Barriers to Their Personal Development," the author is successful in describing real-life examples of the effects of homelessness on school-aged children. She starts out with the story of Angie, a high school student who lives in a tent with her mother and two siblings. After being caught for fighting with her classmates, Angie is sent to the counselor’s office where she confesses her frustration with her current living situation.
To be homeless is to not have a home or a permanent place of residence. Nationwide, there is estimated to be 3.5 million people that are homeless, and roughly 1.35 million of them are children. It is shown that homeless rates, which are the number of sheltered beds in a city divided by the cities population, have tripled since the 1980’s (National Coalition for Homeless, 2014). Worldwide, it is estimated that 100 million children live and work on the streets. Homeless children are more at risk than anyone else, and are among the fastest growing age groups of homelessness. Single women with children represent the fastest growing group of homeless, accounting for about 40% of the people that are becoming
“The National Center on Family Homelessness currently estimates that as many as fifty U. S. children (1.5 million) are homeless or “precariously housed” in temporary quarters such as motels and shelters” (Cohen, 2009). Today’s economic crisis is not helping this growing number of families that are being relocated as home foreclosures and loss of jobs add to the overwhelming number of homeless
WORKS CITED Ellen , B. L., DeCandia, C. J., & Beach, C. (2013). America’s Youngest Outcasts: A Report Card on Child Homelessness. THE NATIONAL CENTER ON Family Homelessness. The American Institute of research.
Unemployment and lack of education plays a major role in these individual homeless people’s lives. With unemployment and high school dropout rates rising, homelessness cannot be prevented. Kids are taught from a young age to stay in school because the ones that dropout around high school is more than likely to become homeless. High school dropouts are likely to become homeless because they are likely to get kicked out of their dysfunctional home, or possibly run away from home feeling as if they are not good enough for the family. Dropouts will find it difficult to preserve a job, most will turn to drugs, becoming an addict, only hoping that it will make things better, really just increasing the rate of poverty and homelessness.
Imagine a young child growing up, learning, and trying to further his or her life to obtain success in the future. For an “everyday” child this can be challenging, however “everyday” obstacles can be overcome. For thousands of children in the United States, this dream is almost impossible to achieve. These children are a part of the homeless population that is spread throughout the United States. Many times these individuals try to hide this major secret from the rest of the world, but homelessness is very prevalent among these youths today. Various problems occur in these peoples’ lives that others could not even begin to understand. Homelessness affects children in every stage of life physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Homelessness. When thinking of people who are experiencing homelessness, do children primary to come to mind? Children do not come to mind first, however, millions of children each year are homeless. There are nearly 130 children, in the Milford School District, that do not want go to school because they do not have uniforms, or no way to get to school and they may not have the support they need to get up to go to school. They have nowhere to go, to lay their heads at night, to shower before school, to do their homework, the list could go on and on. They have to relocate constantly, leading to a very unstable life. Homeless is defined as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular or adequate nighttime residence”. This includes sharing the house
Imagine feeling hopeless, lost, and alone. Feeling like all doors have closed, and knowing surviving day by day is your daily task. Surprisingly, “[a] staggering 2.5 million children are now homeless each year,”countless innocent children and their families are impacted by a destitute life style (“National Center”). Fortunately, efforts are being made to address homelessness constructively. Statewide organizations such as Covenant House and local organizations like The Maslow Project are hoping that through their support service they can make a difference by providing help with shelter, food, education, mentoring, and overall major support to those in need.