Homeless kids at greater risk of falling behind in school, suffering higher rate of physical & mental illnesses -- & becoming homeless adults

For all the lip service paid to "protecting the children," and "no child left behind," we don't spend much time, effort or money on or about kids who are homeless. I realize they are typically difficult to find but that should never serve as the excuse as to why we aren't able to provide more and better resources to assist them. While it is true that the responsibility ultimately lands squarely upon the shoulders of the child's parent to ensure that kid has a place to call home, if parents are struggling, so too are their children. Unfortunately, we've seen what happens when authority figures come down heavy-handed on these parents by taking away their children - parents go deeper underground and take the kid(s) with them. This of course keeps the child even farther away from services - but more importantly to the parents, it keeps them away from "professionals" with a duty to report suspected (subjective?) child abuse. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm currently working with the good folks at the Metro Health Department to begin rectifying some of these perceptions and problems. Whether we're successful in large part depends on how we're perceived and received in the homeless community when we actually do go out and begin offering those services.

homeless

For many Louisville kids, there's no place called home

More families with children homeless

By Deborah Yetter • dyetter@courier-journal.com • June 16, 2008

A year after an unusual dip in Louisville's homeless population, a new survey shows the numbers returning to record levels -- with much of the increase occurring among parents and children.

"What jumps out is the number of children and families that we served," said Marlene Gordon, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, which conducts the annual survey. "It is up significantly."

The coalition's report, to be released at a 10 a.m. news conference today, shows that the overall number of individuals who stayed in homeless shelters in 2007 -- 11,257 -- increased by about 324 from the previous year, and surpassed the high of 2005.

But the number of children in homeless shelters rose more significantly -- to 1,651 last year from less than 1,000 the year before, the survey found. And adults in homeless shelters with children rose to nearly 1,000 last year from 669 in 2006.

"It's the new face of homelessness," said Joe Hamilton, director of Louisville's recently-created Office on Homelessness.

He said many families simply cannot afford a place to live.

"We've got to do something to begin to create more affordable housing," Hamilton said.

Gordon said that the annual survey shows that 19 percent of adults served in homeless shelters had jobs -- but weren't earning enough to pay for housing.

And the survey takes into account only those served at homeless shelters -- it doesn't count those turned away when shelters are full, as they often are. Nor does it count people who sleep in their cars, on the street or who stay with friends and relatives, she said.

The annual count reflects "not even the tip of the iceberg" of the total number of homeless people in the area, Gordon said, adding, "We have no idea about those other people."

One attempted measure is the annual "Point in Time" homeless survey where hundreds of volunteers, on a single night in January, comb the streets and shelters to try to count the actual number of people with no homes.

Results of the 2008 survey showed 2,400 people homeless -- about 2,250 in shelters and the rest on the streets. Gordon said she doubts volunteers identified all the homeless not in shelters.

Advocates say they worry the number of homeless parents and children may be greater because parents fear they could lose their children to child protective services if they acknowledge they have nowhere to live.

So they move from place to place or stay in cars or elsewhere to avoid detection, they said.

"I suspect some of these families that do not share information fear the loss of their kids," said Donna Helton Trabue, the vice president of homeless and hous- ing services for Volunteers of America.

Homeless children are at greater risk of falling behind in school, suffering from a higher rate of physical and mental illnesses -- and becoming homeless adults themselves, Gordon said. "This community needs to be concerned about our children who don't have stable housing," she said.

Hamilton said that is among the reasons Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson established a metro government office on homelessness about six months ago.

The city wants to focus on ways to create more housing individuals can afford as well of attacking some of the causes of homelessness, he said.

Advocates said the causes of homelessness are myriad -- low wages and the increasing costs of basics such as food and gas as well as more complicated issues such as mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse and domestic violence.

Advocates say they fear state cuts to human services -- including deep cuts in funds for community mental health and public health programs -- will worsen the problem. The cuts will mean fewer services for people who may need them to stay employed and in their own homes, they said.

"We know it's not going to get better," said Wendy Helterbran, vice president for development at Volunteers of America, who said one of her agency's goals this year is to try to reduce homelessness, particularly for children.

"They cannot be blamed for what's happening to them," she said. "They have no choice or control over what's going on."

Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.