AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples

Homeless Youth

4.9 of 5.0 (131 reviews)

Contains
632 words
Category
Politics

Homeless Youth page 1
Homeless Youth page 2
Homeless Youth page 3
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Homeless Youth


Powers, Jane L. and Barbara Jaklitsch. Reaching the Hard to Reach. Education & Urban Society, Volume 25, Issue 4, August 1993.



At some point in time, all teenagers are expected to leave home and venture out on their own. Separating from parents and gaining independence are two central tasks that teenagers must overcome in order to become adults. Teenagers usually learn how to make this transition through either home or school. Unfortunately, there are some teens today that do not fully develop these two tasks before deciding to leave home. These teens are the teens that we see out on American streets today. Leaving home at an early age can be devastating to the teenager, the cities they live in, and our society, in general. Teens are often victimized and exploited fairly easily while they are out on their own. Due to this, crime rates skyrocket in cities with a large homeless teenage population. Teens often turn to drug trafficking, prostitution, and other forms of criminal activity in order to survive. In turn, this also causes a wide range of physical and mental health problems, including substance abuse. Although there are large numbers of homeless teens, they still remain lacking in many services. One of the most important services is education. This journal article focuses on the barriers to educating homeless teens and mechanisms that are being created to assist in helping them to survive.

Education is severely affected by homelessness. Most homeless adolescents do not attend school because they are unable to make it to school every day. This, in turn, causes teens to fall behind or fail classes. This causes them to end up dropping out of school. Schools are unable to help the homeless teen. Instead, they cause the teen more frustration and depression, thus encouraging them to stay away from education. Without the basic skills that one earns during high school, the teen is unable to gain legal employment. This not only affects their current situation, but it also affects their future as well. Although some states have set up programs to assist homeless youth in gaining an education, the teen population still remains virtually ignored.

In this journal article, the definition of homeless adolescents is "unaccompanied youth who live independently of their families." When referring to the governmental definition, there is a difference between the homeless youth and the runaway youth. The runaway youth is defined as a person who is "under the age of 18 and has been away from his or her home or legal residence at least overnight, without the permission of a parent or guardian. The runaway has chosen to leave home and has a home in which he or she can return (395)." The homeless youth is defined as an individual who "has no shelter and needs services providing supervision and care."

It is important to understand definitional issues when estimating the scope of the problem of youth homelessness. It is very difficult to obtain an accurate account of homeless youth. The US Department of Justice found that at least 500,000 youth under age 18 become runaways and throwaways each year. Other studies have found that there are 2 to 3 million youth between the ages of 10 to 17 years are living on the streets, in abandoned buildings, or in "welfare" hotels. This means that there is anywhere from 1/2 million to 3 million uneducated, homeless youth on American streets today.

Due to lack of education, homeless teens are being exploited by adults. This means that the youth is likely to become involved in criminal activity. The length of time a young person has been on the streets should be considered in determining their educational needs. Increased time on the streets makes it harder to reach kids and ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 632 words of 1264.

Keywords: homeless youth connection, homeless youth shelter, homeless youth programs, homeless youth alliance, homeless youth statistics, homeless youth awareness month, homeless youth services, homeless youth organizations

Similar essays


An Analysis of Political Eliti

sm It is easy to believe that the middle-class working individual, whether he or she be white collar or blue collar, wields little political power except for during an election. It is also easy to think that we don't have true democracy; political representation elected by the people, for the people, and controlled by these people. This is...

63 reviews
Download
Teenage Pregnancy

By: Stephanie The Truth About Teen Pregnancy Although the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined greatly within the past few years, it is still an enormous problem that needs to be addressed. These rates are still higher in the 1990's than they were only a decade ago. The United State's teenage birthrate exceeds that...

127 reviews
Download
Religion the State and Soverei

The influence of religion on humankind can be traced back to the first records of history. Religion has served as a pillar of strength to some and binding chains to others. There are vast amounts of information and anthropological studies revealing the interaction of religion and humankind. However, for the purposes of this paper, the time peri...

202 reviews
Download
Assisted suicide or euthanasia

By: Mayan Marshall E-mail: MMars8008@aol.com ASSISTED SUICIDE or euthanasia On July 26, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld decisions in New York and Washington State that criminalized assisted suicide. As of April 1999, physicians-assisted suicide is illegal in all but a couple of states. Over thirty states have established l...

9 reviews
Download
Cuba and embargo

By: patty young E-mail: cakes1104@aol.com Cuba and the Affects of the Embargo The island nation of Cuba, located just ninety miles off the coast of Florida, is home to 11 million people and has one of the few remaining communist regimes in the world. Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, came to power in 1959 and immediately instituted a communist...

15 reviews
Download
The Alien and Sedition Acts

The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 revealed bitter controversies on a number of issues that had been developing since the penning of the Constitution. The writers of the document knew that over time the needs of the nation and its people would change, and therefore provided for its amendment. But by not expressly delegating pow...

155 reviews
Download
Homeless Youth

Powers, Jane L. and Barbara Jaklitsch. Reaching the Hard to Reach. Education & Urban Society, Volume 25, Issue 4, August 1993. At some point in time, all teenagers are expected to leave home and venture out on their own. Separating from parents and gaining independence are two central tasks that teenagers must overcome in order to beco...

131 reviews
Download
Prison System

Prison inmates, are some of the most 'maladjusted' people in society. Most of the inmates have had too little discipline or too much, come from broken homes, and have no self-esteem. They are very insecure and are 'at war with themselves as well as with society' (Szumski 20). Most inmates did not learn moral values or learn to follow everyday n...

199 reviews
Download
Economic Development of Hawaii

Hawaii, with an area of 28,313 sq. km (10,932 sq. mi.), is the 43rd largest state in the U.S.; 6.9% of the land is owned by the federal government. It consists mainly of the Hawaiian Islands, eight main islands and 124 islets, reefs, and shoals. The major islands in order of size are Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niha...

29 reviews
Download
Cults

There are many types of cults in the world, cults are everywhere but you just do not see them. Every person in the world has been in contact with them in one way or another in many cases you cannot see them. The closest cult we know of is on Rice Lake called the Moonies led by Reverend Myung, where I have currently visited. can be involved in...

2 reviews
Download
Both Sides of the Abortion Deb

ate During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emoti...

180 reviews
Download
ANwar Sadats DEcision to make

By: jessica E-mail: xoxo185@aol.com Throughout time the decisions made by an individual or a group, such as President Anwar Sadat and his decision to make peace with Israel has dramatically changed the course of history. Every leader in history has made a decision that has affected the world, or just his nation in some way. After many yea...

12 reviews
Download
Analysis of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is one of the biggest problems facing our schools and businesses today. A week rarely goes by without a reminder of the pervasiveness of sexual harassment as a social problem. Sexual harassment is a growing problem in the government agencies, schools, and the corporations of the world; however,...

123 reviews
Download
Both Sides of the Abortion Debate

During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and violent at...

148 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą