On any
given night in Seattle, an estimated 800 young people ages
12-24 are without a safe place to sleep. For all of King
County, the number of homeless youth nightly may be as high
as 2,000. Hundreds of our children, adolescents and young
adults are on the streets, at high risk of becoming
seriously injured or chronically ill, involved in criminal
activity and/or incarcerated, and dependent on welfare
systems. Youth who become homeless come from all
socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. In King County, they
are mostly ages 15 to 21. More than half who use existing
countywide services are white. However, experts believe
those estimates do not account for the number of homeless
youth of color who may not have access to culturally
appropriate programs. Homeless youth are male and female.
Some are parents. Most come from homes within the county.
Many are dealing with the effects of childhood trauma,
substance abuse and the stress of street life, all of which
can delay healthy adolescent development.
State, county, city and community-based programs provide
services addressing different aspects of this problem, but
critical gaps continue to exist between service capacity and
the needs of homeless youth. Many youth are not able to
access services they need, when they need them and others
are ineffectively served by services which do not match
their needs. The greatest economic and social costs in not
addressing the homeless youth population are long-term. Once
youth begin to see homelessness as a way of life, they
virtually "drop out" of society. The hope of getting an
education is lost. The potential increases for
incarceration, emergency hospital and long-term care, and
welfare assistance. Early intervention approaches are
clearly an investment worth the cost. Homelessness among
youth creates a variety of challenges. Many youth on the
streets have experienced great trauma in their young lives.
But our experience suggests that even young people who have
watched their lives and dreams crumble can chart a course
toward a healthy, productive lifetime with the right
combination of services and support.
Source: Susan Levine, City of Seattle, Human Services
Department
Underlying Causes of Youth Homelessness
There are
many reasons that a youth may become homeless. Often it is a
combination of case-specific factors -- such as a mental
illness, learning disability, emotional issues, the actions
or status of parents and other adults responsible for caring
for the child -- along with larger social issues such as
racism, poverty and other forms of oppression. Rarely is
youth homelessness clearly a symptom of personal economic
crisis as it is for many homeless adults. However with the
rising cost of housing, many young adults face insufficient
income to maintain housing, especially those who have been
in foster care or otherwise have little support from adults.
While a wide range of circumstances might cause youth
homelessness, there are three situations that stand out as
common to large portions of the homeless youth population.
Family
Conflict
Of the 673
youth entering shelters in King County, 60% indicated
emotional conflict at home contributed to their need for
shelter. A study of a sample of homeless youth in Seattle
found that "Although the reasons for leaving home varied
considerably, conflict or fighting at home (53%) was named
most frequently"1
Many
families have significant problems of one sort or another,
but are able to manage some difficulties while a child is
small. When the child becomes a teenager, new challenges
emerge. The youth needs to establish increasing independence
and may begin to express strong new emotions that
adolescents often experience. These normal developmental
processes added to ongoing stresses such as a child’s
learning disability, a parent’s mental health or substance
abuse issue, cultural assimilation issues, or poor parenting
skills, make the level of conflict intolerable for the
parents or the youth. Little or no help is available for
such families, and eventually the youth is told to leave or
runs away. Many of these situations could be prevented if
adequate support were available for families with parenting
issues, children with disabilities or other stresses that
affect parent child relationships. Counseling, parenting
skills training, parent/family support programs and
intensive family intervention services are needed in far
greater supply than current capacity. Support must be
provided long term to maintain therapeutic gains and help
parents deal with new challenges as children reach different
developmental stages.
1
Wert, S., Ginzler, J.A., Paradise, M., Cauce A. M.
(2000). The Effects Of Child Abuse On Adolescents' Capacity
For Caring Within A Sample Of Homeless Adolescents.
Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA. |
