Homelessness Among Adolescents

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Jessica Petty 12/02/14 English 1/Carmichael Homelessness: Adolescents to Mid-Twenties Homelessness is one of the leading causes of death and mental illness in the United States. The age old concept of young people “aging out” of the foster care system is still relevant, however, not the only issue regarding the subject. Of those who study homelessness amongst teens, many would say that it comes down to the personal circumstances following the individual. Fifty-eight percent of adolescents (sixteen to eighteen years of age) in the United States are homeless (www.nationalhomeless.org). Legislation aimed to “prevent” homelessness and aid those affected by it effect adult homelessness, those from the ages of eighteen to twenty-five…show more content…
An individual offered her a stable place to live, soon after, he trafficked her. (http://helphomelesskidsnow.org/facts/) The primary cause of homelessness amongst youth is the “aging out” effect of the foster care system. Twenty percent of unaccompanied youth arriving in homeless shelters are coming directly from foster care while twenty-five percent of those already in shelters were in foster care within the previous year(https://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/background-11-causes-teen-homelessness). The foster care system defines their wards from being aged zero to seventeen. Once the individual reaches eighteen, they are considered an adult and are almost immediately discharged from their family. Having no way to support themselves financially, they become homeless within the year. California, Texas, and Florida have the highest numbers of “discharged” homeless foster children. For the rest of the unaccompanied homeless youth population, there are far more and greater causes of their suffering. Escaping abuse, whether it be physical, emotional, or sexual,…show more content…
Under the Homeless Children and Youth Act (HCYA), a HUD homeless service provider could make a simple determination that a family or youth in a motel, or staying temporarily with others, is eligible, or accept a referral from another federal program, prohibits HUD from overriding local communities. Local service providers are the best equipped to evaluate which homeless populations have the greatest unmet needs, and where federal homelessness resources are best targeted, amends federal homeless data collection and reporting requirements to ensure that data currently collected on all homeless children, youth, and families is made available to the public, providing an accurate and honest accounting of homelessness in America, contains no new mandates, and costs nothing. Whether newly eligible families and youth receive services would depend on communities’ assessments of their own

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