Introduction Marni Finkelstein, the author of the book With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets, sought out to make the lives of street kids known and understood by the rest of the American community delving deep into the lives of the homeless youth residing in the East Village neighborhood of New York City and the surrounding areas (Finkelstein 2005: 18). The purpose of her ethnographic book is to shine light on what the street lifestyle consists of for kids. The term “street kid” is defined by the author as young people under the age of twenty-one who have separated themselves from their families, whether by parental consent or not, and now live almost entirely on the street (Finkelstein 2005: 3). The author’s …show more content…
These children, originating from both the United States and Canada, generally comes from families that either pushed them out of the home or willingly let them leave (Finkelstein 2005: 13, 14). Although all of the children that participated in the study have unique backgrounds and experiences, there are some aspects of their stories that have relation to one another. The book With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets exposes the homeless youth’s backgrounds, their experiences while living a life on the road and what the street life is like for homeless youth. This paper will focus on the homeless youth’s socialization process into living the street life, and will outline the social networks associated with travel, substance …show more content…
The connections formed between the homeless youth allows them to become accustomed to the different ways of obtaining money, food, shelter and other necessities that are key to surviving on the street. This union within the community allows the kids that are new to the street, otherwise known as “Oogles,” to have guidance and relations with like-minded people (Finkelstein 2005: 38). In relation, Finkelstein found in her study that the majority of children joining this movement shared roughly the same perception of school, societal norms and freedom, resulting in strong network ties. This population of homeless youth supports one another while emphasizing freedom, which ultimately widens and legitimizes the street scene (Finkelstein 2005:
Finkelstein, M. (2005). With no direction home: homeless youth on the road and in the streets. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Furthermore, facilities frequently concentrate on “quick-fix” interventions instead of focusing on their qualities that empower them and concentrating on long-term aspirations (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). For the most part, it is extremely hard to access health care for the youth population because they face various restrictions. It is not surprising that many homeless adolescents do not have a way of seeking services even if they are the population that needs it the most. Homeless youth are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes such as not being able to further their education, getting incarcerated, developing a mental health disorder, and engaging in alcohol dependency and unsafe sexual behavior (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Children without a home are more prone to live in inconsistent and harsh living conditions categorized by family and school issues. Although; many homeless youths do not experience desirable outcomes housing programs and similar services serve a primary support system to help reduce homelessness. Services that promise better living conditions are shown to enhance lifestyles and a positive development into adulthood.
Even with the daily struggle faced by youth in obtaining shelter and homelessness becoming a reality for a growing number of Canadians, Canada, with its high quality of life is one country that has always had a global long-standing reputation. This paper will be working towards giving the reader a better understanding with regards to homeless youth. It will be focusing on the reasons why they leave home, their lives on the street and steps they are trying to take to be able to leave the streets. An important finding from this research suggests, “the street youth population is diverse, complex, and heterogeneous”. According to Karabanow, made up of a number of subcultures including hardcore street-entrenched young people, squatters, group home kids, child welfare kids, soft-core twinkles, runaways, throwaways, refugees and immigrants is the generic term ‘street youth’.
Gwinnett County Public School (2010, June). Education for Homeless Children and Youth. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/F42D74FA4ECBBFED85257754006DDA21/$file/HEP_Parent_Brochure_10-11.pdf
Woelfer, J. P., & Hendry, D. G. (2009). Stabilizing homeless young people with information and place. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(11), 2300-2312.
This paper has given the reader a brief overview of homelessness in Australia, in particular, youth homelessness. Social research methods have also been explored, looking at the definition of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, and the purpose for each. It has been concluded that in order to examine young people’s experiences of homelessness, researchers should focus on qualitative methods of data collection.
Youth homelessness in Ontario is not a new phenomenon, it has become more and more severe over the past 20 years. “One third of homeless individuals on the streets are under the age of 25”(Cino, Rose). It is a significant social justice issue in Canada. Within our community people are increasingly aware of the sight of youth sleeping in parks, asking for money and sitting on sidewalks. Youth homelessness in Ontario is primarily caused by tragic life occurrences such as abuse, illness or unemployment.
Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency contribute to the majority of the homeless within our society. What effects does being homeless have on members of the family? It contributes to many physical and mental health problems for both parents and their children. Homelessness is a world-wide issue, yet zeroing in on Canada, the majority of the homeless live on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver where they seek shelter anywhere from a park bench to dark alleys. The fact remains that homelessness will always be a problem yet over the years, the number of homeless people has been on the rise and something must be done. Homelessness, specially in families, is a devastating experience. It disturbs nearly all aspects of family life, damaging the physical and emotional health of family members. In addition, it interferes with children's education and development and often results in the separation of family members. It is hard to say exactly who the homeless are because it is usually a temporary circumstance and not a permanent condition. -2- Therefore more appropriate manner of estimating homelessness is to look at the number of people who are currently experiencing homelessness rather than the number of "homeless people". WHO ARE THE HOMELESS Homeless people range anywhere from 11 to 65 years of age. Most studies show that homeless adults are most likely to ...
The youth homelessness population is increasing because of the many challenges that these children or teens face in everyday life; It also continues getting larger every year because of the many youth who are getting into dangerous situations that force them to be homeless or thru their own choosing. One third of the homeless population is between the ages of 16-24, which is incredibly young and it is the prime years for an adolescent or young adu...
Homelessness….. Many assume those who are homeless took part in some type of drug or alcohol abuse which lead them to become homeless. It is an ongoing situation that has not been fully resolved in order to lower the risk of individuals of the youth population becoming homeless. The age group for homeless individuals who qualify as youth is nineteen years of age and under. In the United States, dysfunctional families are occurring more frequent, which is a vital reason adolescents are running away from their homes. This alone puts many of our youth at risk of becoming homeless. When adolescents leave their homes, it decreases their chances of having a smooth transition into adulthood. Some adolescents may leave their home because
News Briefs. a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of Journal of Housing & Community Development, 10-11. Stein, M. L., & Roseman, M. (1990). Homeless Children: A New Vulnerability?
Giffords, E., Alonso, C., & Bell, R. (2007). A Transitional Living Program for Homeless Adolescents: A Case Study. Child & Youth Care Forum, 36(4), 141-151. doi:10.1007/s10566-007-9036-0.
Elliott’s ambition for writing this article is to expose the world to the horrific conditions of homeless people in America’s largest cities. Invisible Child is successful in bringing awareness to this issue due to its strategic implementations of thought provoking situations and its application of emotional content. The audience of this article would most likely include ordinary people who are conscious of the difficulties of those in their neighborhood and surrounding areas.
This source is an ethnographic study to explore the culture of homelessness in youth. Data for the study were obtained from nineteen homeless adolescents from the northeastern part of the US. Oliveira and Burke (2009) identified some of the cultural features of homeless youth including material possessions such as musical instruments and equipment, relationships with other homeless individuals to create a street family, selling drugs and panhandling as well as a street language. They found that the decision to make the streets their home was a rational option to staying unsafe and harmful home environments.
According to the McKinney Act, A person is considered homeless who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2006). There are facts and myths the troubles our displaced citizens, as a result of these beliefs the homeless youth population as has been stereotyped and/or ostracized based on their circumstances. We will explore these myths to alleviate the misbelief or misunderstanding of this exclusive population of communal and societal members. There is a misconception that the homeless youth are solely blamable for their own circumstance. The fact is many homeless individuals have survived as victims of violence, child abuse, natural disasters, deficiency in employment opportunities