Homeless Children In America

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Homeless Children Connie M DiDonato Baker College Who is to blame? Is it the government, the banks and let’s not forget ourselves. In today’s day and age I can’t believe that there are so many homeless children in the United States of America. Doing my research has truly opened my eyes on this subject. I believed that people put themselves into this situation by having child after child. Truly, this is not the case. Something has gone wrong in this country. We the people have allowed the government and big business to “run amuck” in this country. They have gambled away our prosperity. Every child should have somewhere to call home and food in their belly. We need to help these families get back on their feet whether it is through job…show more content…
This means the job losses started with the auto workers, then the part suppliers, part makers, and then the local businesses which grew up around the auto factories. On top of all this going on in Michigan the country started hemorrhaging jobs everywhere, banks collapsed, the housing industry, and the auto industry and then it affected the small business owners. When I was doing the research for this essay I cried and cried. Story after story was heartbreaking. Then I got angry at the government (state and federal), and our Governor in this great state of Michigan. The many new homeless are people just like you and me. This is due to the downturn in the economy nationwide and especially with the auto industry here in Michigan. The parents of these children have lost everything except their children. This is one of the main reasons that we don’t know a true number of the “homeless children” in this state. The parents are afraid if they ask for help they will lose their children. Just a few of the statistics given, “the number of children living in poverty has increased from 14 million to 16 million” (Watson, 2011). Alone in Michigan in the “2010-2011 school year, more than 31,000 homeless students attend school—8,500 more than in the previous school year, a 37 percent spike” (Seidel, 2011). Most figures you can find don’t even count the number of families that have doubled up living…show more content…
The school counselors are acting more like social workers. Each school district is required by law to provide transportation to and from school for homeless students. “In the Washtenaw County school district they spent $5,234 for taxi cab fare for homeless students in October of 2010, in October of 2011 they have spent $9,223” (Evans, 2011). They are not only supplying transportation at all the schools in the country, but they are also supplying breakfast, lunch (as these maybe the only meals they eat), backpacks filled with school supplies, but now they are supplying clothes as well. I know this to be true because my family has donated many items to the local school districts in our area. The schools are doing the job our government should be doing. “In four western Michigan counties, Gratiot, Ionia, Isabella and Montcalm, the number of homeless students has doubled in less than a year from 666 last spring to 1,242 homeless children in January, 2011” (Watson, 2011). Without jobs or help most of these people after losing their homes are living in vehicles, bouncing from one relative or friend to another so they don’t run out their welcome. Some also live in motels, rv/trailer parks, and camping grounds. As if those choices weren’t bad enough some people live in abandoned homes, shelters, and bus or train stations and under bridges. Is this how we want anyone to live? No! What are the

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