Homelessness

During the past decade the numbers of homeless children, youths, and families have increased significantly. It is estimated that 1.35 million children will experience homelessness during the course of a year, representing 39% of the overall homeless population (Urban Institute, 2000). Powers and Jaklitsch (1993) identified two groups of homeless adolescents, runaways and throwaways. Runaways are children who frequently leave home to escape painful and traumatic family situations in search of safety and protection. These youths may or may not return to their family residence. Throwaways are children who have permanently left home or are forced to leave home by parents or guardians. These youths are likely to remain hidden from the public in cities and towns, making their way in illegal trades such as drugs and prostitution. With little hope of locating these youngsters and pulling them into a system of services that could potentially offer them help and support, the literature refers to this runaway group as “throwaway” children. These children are likely to be without skills and education, and no adult to advocate for them to obtain necessary services. Those who do not return home have enormous service needs because of their detachment from family members and support systems. They are often at great risk for exploitation, substance abuse, and delinquency. Nunez and Collignon (1997) reported homeless American children were moving between shelters or placed in overcrowded or inadequate housing. More than 750,000 of the 1.35 million were of school age, with an average age of nine years.

Some families and children are chronically homeless in that they experience homelessness consistently over very long periods of time. Others are transitionally homeless in that they experience homelessness once or a few times and for relatively short periods of time. These families may move from shelter to shelter struggling to sustain any permanent housing. Those who may be transitionally homeless are temporarily without a residence and with support during a homeless period may be successful thereafter in maintaining their own home. Rafferty and Shinn (1991) in their study of New York City homeless students noted that homeless children were more likely to have been low-birth-weight infants; experienced higher rates of infant mortality than other nonhomeless children; and experienced additional health threats through prenatal drug exposure, AIDS, poor nutrition, lead poisoning, and accidental injury. Educationally, they were more likely to have repeated or be repeating a grade, were performing on achievement tests at a lower level than other students, and appeared to have significantly lower expectations from teachers for long-term educational success than did their peers.

The federal government makes a distinction between a homeless youth and a runaway youth. A runaway is a person younger than the age of 18 who has been away from home or legal residence at least overnight, without the permission of a parent or guardian. The runaway has chosen to leave and has a home to which he or she may return. A homeless youth has no home or shelter and needs services to provide supervision and care. These youth are sometimes referred to as throwaways. Many of these youth leave home because of abusive and violent situations. Studies show that as many as 60% of the youths in shelters experienced abuse before running away. Some studies estimate that as many as two or three million youths between the ages of 10 and 17 years are living on the streets, in abandoned buildings, or in welfare hotels. These numbers are viewed as conservative given that many homeless youths do not use services and may go uncounted by service agencies.

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