Shielded Destitute Families With Children: A Case Study

     To be homeless is to not have a home or a permanent place of residence. Nationwide, there is estimated to be 3.5 million people that are homeless, and roughly 1.35 million of them are children. It is shown that homeless rates, which are the number of sheltered beds in a city divided by the cities population, have tripled since the 1980’s (National Coalition for Homeless, 2014). Worldwide, it is estimated that 100 million children live and work on the streets. Homeless children are more at risk than anyone else, and are among the fastest growing age groups of homelessness. Single women with children represent the fastest growing group of homeless, accounting for about 40% of the people that are becoming

A 1990 study of public shelter use in New York City and Philadelphia, PA showed the effects of homelessness on minorities; especially African American families. In both cities almost 7% of black children have been in the shelter system between 1990 and 1992. This percentage is much higher than 1% of White children in the shelter system during the same time period. In addition to being homeless these children often suffer from health problems. Common health problems in homeless children include upper respiratory tract infections, scabies, lice, tooth decay, ear infections, skin infections, diaper rash and conjunctivitis.

The common profile of a homeless family is headed by a single mother, in her 20’s with an average of two children, of which one or both are under the age of six. Homeless mothers tend to be poorly educated, unemployed, and lacking the skills necessary to become employed. There is an equal representation of Caucasian (47%) and African American (47%) homeless mothers. These women commonly described their lives as ““… a remarkably constant stream of distressing and spirit-breaking encounters, beginning in early childhood …” including experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse, constant crisis, stress from persistent poverty, violence in the family and community, and isolation. Most of these women grew up homeless and spent their childhood in foster care making them distrustful of the system.

The image of homelessness has changed since the Great Depression, when many homeless people were elderly and white. Today a growing number of women and families, including young children, are homeless because of insufficient housing and resources (Bassuk & Rosenberg, 1988). As the number of homeless people has continued to rise over the past decade, homelessness has become a central feature of life in America.

People often think that homelessness only affects men and women but in reality homelessness also affects families “It is estimated that 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness every year. Among this group, 17 percent are single women and 30 percent are families with children” (Finfgeld-Connet, 2010, p.1). It is said that women along with their children are among the fastest growing homeless population and not only does it impact women but it also impacts their children significantly.

Homeless families compose a fraction of the homeless population as they “represent roughly a third of the homeless population in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010), and approximately 1.5 million children—1 in 50 youngsters—are homeless each year in the United States” (p. 389). These homeless families often struggle to find permanent residency as a collective unit. There are several types of housing situations available for homeless families such as temporary housing, transitional housing settings, and shelters, yet the housing situation for homeless families often causes stress for families as stability and a secure home is always in question. “The lack of stable, consistent housing is the central, defining characteristic of families experiencing homelessness, distinguishing them and their experience(s) from those with stable housing who experience other correlated conditions (e.g., poverty)” (Kilmer, Cook, Crusto, Strater, and Haber, 2012, p. 394). Homeless families often seek different types of housing usually by first reaching out to temporary shelters in emergency situations like domestic violence that often lead to homelessness, which provide services for children and families. There are many challenges families encounter in the process of seeking permanent housing.

In the U.S., there’s a cycle of poverty and hardship that many Black and Hispanic citizens face. This cycle began when the War on Drugs started. The implementation of mandatory minimums, the predetermined punishments that come with drug crimes, greatly impacted ethnic minorities. The amount of minority single-parent households became more prominent in 1960s, where the War on Drugs was emphasized. Families with a single head are increasingly more likely to be in poverty than those with both parents. In the 60’s, Black families held the highest single-parent household population. Gregory Acs, who has a PhD in social work and specializes in social welfare, found that over 40 percent of single-mother families with children were in poverty. Those who are in poverty are defined as having an annual income lower than $22,000 (Acs, et al). The cycle of poverty ensures that those who are in poverty stay in

While reading the article "Black Charity in the Progressive Era Chicago" and the textbook "The Reluctant Welfare State" chapter 14, I became enlightened on the subject of child/youth homelessness. Child or youth homelessness is something that I had not thought much about nor have witnessed for myself, but it made me wonder what social workers can do to help minority children who are homeless. What preventative measures can social workers do to help minority children who are homeless and are often discriminated against due to not being the norm of society? What kinds of direct service organizations, such as children's shelters and children's homes, can help to end children/youth homelessness in various cities? How does race and/or the color

Majority of American families are a paycheck, illness or car breakdown away from homelessness. One of the fastest growing segments of the homeless population is families with children. A survey conducted in 25 cities in the U.S found that 36% of the homeless population was composed of families with children, (Millennial Housing Commission. Meeting Our Nation's Housing Challenges, 2002). Homeless children have demonstrated serious developmental and learning delays, and are more likely to drop out of school compared to children with stable living conditions. Single Homeless adults are mostly men between the ages of 31 and 50 years of age. Approximately half of the single adult homeless have use or a have a history of substance abuse. About a third of this population has serious or ongoing illnesses. Another segment of the homeless population are thruway or runway youth. One study showed that approximately one and a half million youth in America were homes at least one night in the course of a year, (U.S. Conference of Mayors. Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness, 2001). Homelessness is a result of complex circumstances in which people are made to choose from the basic human

(Rogers 407) Since 2012 more African Americans are attending college to work toward a higher education to at least help them out of poverty. There is also an increase in older college students in their late thirties to fifties that also returned to school for a higher education. (Ebony Magazine, 2012. Women of African American seem to have a much harder time, than other race of people, in poverty and are even harder for them in older age. “The term triple jeopardy has been used to describe “female ethnic-minority elderly.” Members of this particular group face discrimination in three ways-being a women, elderly, and a member of an ethnic minority group-putting them even more at risk for poverty than other adults”.(Rogers 407). People who live in poverty often have other problems such as stress, prolonged illness and disability, reduced access to health care, poor living conditions and malnutrition problems. The formal support system for African Americans who experience living in poverty can get help from: Tax Credits (Snap), subsidies programs – Section 8 program, Habitat for Humanity’s and free school lunches for children. The problem with some of these programs is that many people do not qualify for these services even as they struggle with poverty. Some ways of helping themselves is to help at home and lower the electric and gas bills by turning off lights when not needed. When taking shorter baths,

It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).

This report also voices that Blacks and Hispanics exceed the nation average. A single mother household is where poverty remains the highest.

Two contemporary social problems of interest are transitional housing needs for homeless mothers and domestic violence in the African American community. Fischer (2000) wrote homeless families face the economic and personal challenges of sparse employment opportunities, child care and nutrition needs, compounded by the loss of adequate housing. Those with the greatest risk of being unemployed and of becoming long term welfare dependent are teen mothers (Fischer, 2000). In addition, depression and the loss of self-confidence are direct results of being homeless. Homelessness destroys self-esteem and promotes hopelessness.

In today’s society children becoming homeless and having to fend for themselves is wide-spread but homelessness in families also tends to be common (Jewel 2). This issue affects the human population in a very grave way which leaves one out of every fifty children experiencing this immense epidemic (Crary 1). The current recession, has caused sixteen percent of homeless children to be present in our country today and with the economy worsening this statistic will increase (Kingsbury 1).

Furthermore, the declining availability of public assistance has also increased the number of families that are in poverty or homeless. Fewer families are receiving the help they need. There were once many federal and state assistance programs that were available for those in need, but because of budget cuts, most of the funding for these programs have been cut or eliminated. As a result of loss of benefits many continue to struggle. In Anna Quindlen’s, “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids, Quindlen states how “[a] study done in San Diego in 1998 found that a third of homeless families had recently had