N Ethnographic Study About the Homeless Youth in the Philippines

The book “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets” written by Marni Finkelstein refers to the homeless youth. This book describes the lifestyle of the teenagers with no home and explains with detail about what consist in their everyday lives in the streets of New York City. The purpose of this book is to explain to people who these kids are and to see life in their point of view. It explains the difference between street kids and the kids that live on the street. We need to understand that the kids that live on the streets have their own culture and their own way of surviving. Learning their point of view would be a great eye opening experience for everyone and to also understand their struggle. This book explains a study that was done to 50 street kids and life on the streets.

Homelessness is a major problem in the United States. An incredibly vulnerable group is the homeless youth due to their young age and lack of education. According to Edidin, Ganim, Hunter, & Karnik (2012) on any particular night in the United States there are ~2 million homeless youth living on the streets, in shelters, or in other temporary accommodation. Youth become homeless for multiple reasons whether it be because they have aged out of foster care, ran from home, were kicked out of their home, or because they have become homeless along with their family members. Within the umbrella categorization of homeless youth there are high at risk subgroups, common misconceptions, and a serious concern of lack of support and medical services.

Some of the concepts I read about in the textbook were runaways, separation and family organization. To describe street kids Finkelstein used the key point “runaways”. Finkelstein later explained that runaways are not a bad thing. Most kids ran away for various reasons mainly for their benefits. They did not like their home environment for various reasons like being abused, not getting enough care or just seeking an adventure out of their comfort zone. This study helped me understand what separation truly was. These street kids have not seen their parents for

Imagine if a city has a rise in the homeless population there may not be enough beds for the night, which will result with some individuals being turned away. Many of the homeless youth are on the street not choice, and they normally have begged on the street for food just to live. Did you know that unstable homes can vary from couch hoping to extremes like children/youth having sex for shelter for the night? This is the situation that many homeless children on the street must face, if there is no room in the shelters or if they did not get enough food to survive for the day. Understandably, this can happen to homeless adults, but they have more strength to fight back, whereas children/youth who are smaller in structure may not be able to fight back. As a result, there are many individuals out in the world who would love to exploit the weakness of these children. Homeless children can easily be sex trafficked because most of the time they need food or shelter.

In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An

Homeless youth are a standout amongst the most underestimated gatherings in our general public. Numerous specialists recognize much more elevated amounts of different issue practices among these adolescent contrasted with their non-homeless associates. The current study analyzed the utility of social capital in foreseeing issue practices among homeless youth.

In every city there are neighborhoods that struggle with the issue of violence, crime and aggression. These neighborhoods have also taken on the names of slums and ghettos. The same areas where children are faced with growing up too fast because of the violence, crime and drug trafficking that has taken over these communities. Not only do these children and young adult face with these issues, they are also faced with the reality that in these disorganized neighborhoods, there is a breakdown of the traditional family therefore they must learn and master the code of conduct and or the rules of the streets in order to survive. Not to mention learning the demands of socially regarding displaying appropriate behavior when they are outside of the disorganized community.

The ethnography With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets by Marni Finkelstein, describes the life of street youth in New York City. The ethnography attempts to debunk myths that prior studies have formed of these street youths. The author, Marni Finkelstein is an Anthropologist renowned for her work on urban populations at risk. She graduated from the New School of Social Research in New York City with her PhD in Anthropology. Finkelstein has also conducted studies on substance abuse, sexual assaults and drug use of youths in New York City. Finkelstein achieves her goals, by using a scientific approach when observing the street youths. A few methods she utilizes are similar to that have been previous used but

Throughout the United States, there are a large number of individuals that goes unnoticed. Hidden in right plain sight, but are overlooked. They can be our friends, family, classmates, or the person standing right next you to at this moment. There are young individuals who are facing the tremendous challenge of being homeless. They are overlooked by many in society. However, there have been countless individuals, groups, organizations dedicated to ending youth homelessness. However, they are confronted with challenges due to the lack of interest. The lack of interest found within society can contribute to barriers to ending youth homelessness.

Hobo, beggar, and bum are just a few terms used in society today to describe the homeless community. Today, more and more individuals and families are becoming homeless and majority of them never imagined being homeless. This tragic event could happen to anyone. There is not a guide created to overcome the barriers of homelessness or a "how to manual" when an individual or family is faced with homelessness. "Homelessness occurs when people or households are unable to acquire and/or maintain housing" (End Homelessness, 2016).

Homelessness, especially among the youth (12-24 years of age), is difficult to capture in data due to the invisibility of this population. The homeless and independent youth are, generally, not part of formal institutions like homeless shelters or mental health systems. As a response to the dire circumstances these youths face on a daily basis, they come to rely on internal informal networks that they trust. Consequently, it is common for young, homeless and independent, individuals to temporarily stay with different friends: constantly moving from one couch to another. This network of trust is invaluable to this population and is a potential key for policy makers to look at unconventional methods to identify and address the most pressing needs.

Alone and troubled, surving the hardship of the world all by yourself. Youth are unfortunate to have life experience on how to survive the world, many youth don’t have job experience or money to support themselves to get back in school and live a normal life style. Becoming homeless at a young age puts a great deal of damage on teenagers, the longer time period a person is homeless can cause long term emotional and psychical harm considering the distant they have to go to just to survive. Living on the streets, youth doesn’t get three square meals a day like a average teenager would, they live off poor diets and lack of malnutrition causing the effects of having a

“Orphans, Foundlings, waifs, half-orphans, street Arabs, and street urchins were terms used to describe abandoned children” (DiPasquale). In New York City alone, there were 30,000 homeless children in the 1850’s (The Orphan Trains). Children averaging from six to eighteen lived very homeless and neglecting lives and had little to no hope for a successful life. Children’s lives, orphanages, and Orphan Trains changed the way children lived during the 1800s.

At eleven-years-old, my world was turned upside when I first volunteered at the Manna Soup Kitchen and became aware of the substantial issue of homeless youth. While serving the beautiful food I helped prepare, I recognized one of my best friends who I volunteered in the Southwest Conservation Corp with as she waited in line with no parent in sight. After eating her meal, she went into the thick woods behind the kitchen where she still continues to live. Curiously, I followed her and witnessed the horrific reality of homeless youth for all she had was a tent and a blanket in below freezing weather. The matter of homeless youth carries great importance with me because it affects the lives of a substantial amount of my friends and peers.

Walking through a major city or metropolitan area there are a countless number of people who are wearing old and ripped clothing, carrying bags or pushing grocery carts full of junk, looking like they have not bathed in weeks and most of them holding signs begging for change just so they can eat something that day. Over the past eight years the amount of homeless individuals has continuously decreased throughout the country. Homelessness in America is a serious problem, especially with higher rates in unemployment happening. Americans