Argumentative Essay On Homeless Children

The thought of becoming homelessness for any individual can be stressful, scary, over whelming and even traumatic. Now imagine what that must feel like for a child, someone who may not have developed the cognitive skills to understand that harsh and drastic changes they are experiencing with their families. According to the text “Protecting the Mental Health of Homeless Children and Youth” by HCH Clinician Network (2000), the author’s state,

“Loss of stability and safety; fractured families; hunger; overcrowded living conditions; disrupted education; secondary to multiple moves; increased exposure to disease, violence substance abuse, and metal illness- these are the conditions elicit and exacerbate emotional problems in homeless children”

According to her text “Homelessness and its Effects on Children”, Ellen Hart-Shegos, states “Environmental factors contribute to homeless children’s poor health […] homeless children are at greater risk for asthma and lead poising” (1999, p. 4). This argument is relatively significant because it speaks on the living conditions endured by these children. From my understanding of class discussions and from the multiple readings covered in class, the main reason at risk homeless children experience poor health is a result of their caretaker’s being deprived of access to health care. As presented by the National Coalition for the Homeless in their fact sheet “Health Care and Homelessness” (2006), “Nine million children in the United States do not have health insurance. In 2000, 32.2% of these children lived in families below the federal poverty line” (p. 1). Though it is unfortunate, the cycle it’s self makes sense, to clarify my point, what I mean is that it that if one doesn’t have access health care, one will not seek the medical services needed, developing worst health. Another reason physical health is affected with regards to children living in poverty who are at risk of becoming homeless is because many of these families live in neighborhood and building that are infested with roaches, rats, mold and other such things. In the film we saw in class we were able to see the first hand the

In the text, “Parenting and Homelessness: Overview and Introduction to the Special Section” by Kristen Paquette and Ellen L. Bassuk (2009), the authors argue “Children who are homeless are four times more likely to show delayed development and have twice the rate of learning disabilities as low-income housed children. One in three repeat a grade” (p. 295). As mentioned previously this amount of stress can be very toxic for a child, especially if they do not know how to deal with it in a manner that will promote progress. I think that there are many things that conquer simultaneously affecting the child academically or developmentally, first the stress of homelessness, second nourishment, these children are not being given the nourishment needed to grow properly, three lack of sleep due to fear anxiety or another such things. Finally, from many of the reasons I have come to the conclusion that many of these children are doing worst than their peers as a result of their families, for example not belonging to a family that is English proficient. One of risk factor for homelessness is low educational attainment, which I also find to be part of the problem if the parent wasn’t able to earn a high school degree than the child might