HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW.
This stool represents how a bill becomes a law. There are three things that need to happen before a bill can become a law. First the bill goes to the senate where they approve or disapprove the bill, if they disapprove this bill will not become a law. Second the bill goes to the house of representatives where they approve or disapprove the bill, if they disapprove this bill will not become a law. Lastly the bill goes to the President where he approves disapproves the bill, if he disapproves this bill will not become a law. These three things are what needs to happen for a bill to become a law
This stool represents how a bill becomes a law. There are three things that need to happen before a bill can become a law. First the bill goes to the senate where they approve or disapprove the bill, if they disapprove this bill will not become a law. Second the bill goes to the house of representatives where they approve or disapprove the bill, if they disapprove this bill will not become a law. Lastly the bill goes to the President where he approves disapproves the bill, if he disapproves this bill will not become a law. These three things are what needs to happen for a bill to become a law
The Following is my senior research paper:
Peter Wampler
Yampah Mountain High School
Senior Paper
May 1, 2012
Adolescent Homelessness
Adolescent Homelessness has been on the rise for decades and is an all too present issue, not only in the United States, but across the world. This is an issue that is important to me because I, personally, have been homeless for a period of time and I have multiple friends that have experienced or are currently homeless. Over 1.3 million youth are homeless at some point each year, and the number is rising. (2) It is an issue that has deeply impacted my life and I am curious to explore the different causes and effects of adolescent homelessness around the world and possibly look at various solutions for the issue.
There are three main categories that generally cause adolescent homelessness: Family Problems, Economic Instability, and Residential Instability. (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html) The most specific reason is most likely family problems, causing the majority of runaways or kids that get kicked out. This can be anything from drug use amongst the parents, drug use amongst the youth, domestic violence, sexual abuse, neglect, or any combination of the above. All of the categories tend to be inter-related, as the drug use can lead to the abuse and violence and neglect, as well as the economic problems, the financial instability, etc… In fact, the excessive use of drugs and alcohol tends to be one of the underlying causes of most homelessness.
The prevalence rate for homeless adolescents with substance abuse disorders is 85% (http://www.myfriendsplace.org/whoweservestats.html) 47% of homeless youth were kicked out, rather than running away, meaning not only did their parents know and have the ability to prevent it, but they wanted the youth gone and out of the house. (http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/RunawayandHomelessYouth.aspx) However that leaves another 53% that ran away. I believe the ones who ran away had more to do with neglect, abuse, and economic difficulty at home rather than excessive substance abuse, although, as previously stated, heavy use could easily have something to do with the abuse, neglect, and family financial instability as well. Mental instability and mental health issues also factor in to youth homelessness, as with any homelessness.
Another major cause for youth homelessness is “aging out” of foster care and not having anywhere to go once they are discharged from foster care. (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html) One study reported that one in five adolescents seeking help through a shelter had come directly from foster care (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html) This is the major reason making residential instability a main cause of adolescent homelessness. Once a person reaches a certain age and the foster home will no longer care for them, they are out on the streets, without a dollar to their names or, in a lot of cases, the education required to be able to make the money necessary to survive.
21% of homeless children have to repeat one or more years in school because of frequent absences, 41% attend 2 schools throughout a single school year, and 28% attend 3 or more. (http://www.myfriendsplace.org/whoweservestats.html) Homeless students are at a far greater risk of skipping class, not caring about school work in general, and not graduating from high school. This is likely due to lack of parental concern and action. Honestly, students who don’t have a home to go to at night just have a lot more to worry about than a homework assignment or a test next week. That’s actually the least of their concerns. Shelter, something to fill your stomach, and basically avoiding death are far greater concerns.
Throughout history, there have always been reasons for teenagers getting kicked out of their homes, or running away. Between the 1970’s and now, however, life on the streets for adolescents has become increasingly more dangerous due to increasing sexual exploitation of youth and adolescent drug use, as well as gang life and violence amongst youth. (http://www.focusas.com/Runaways-WhyTeensRunAway.html)
In 1974 congress passed the Runaway Child Act of 1974, to “assist runaways outside of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems”. (http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/1451) In the mid 1970’s, homelessness and unoccupied houses were both local and national hot topics and points of interest. The expanding group of homeless organizations in the 1970’s put together a project that allowed “short-life” houses, or houses that were too be demolished within the next 10 years, to be fixed up enough to at least be made safe, weatherproof, and hygienic, and used as temporary shelter for the homeless.
The 1980’s saw another dramatic increase in homelessness among adolescents and adults. This led to another wave of charities and foundations dedicated to helping the homeless. One of the causes of the spike in homelessness was a new legislation that passed in the early 80’s preventing most 16 and 17 year olds from claiming housing benefits. Almost 20,000 people were living in hostels around London throughout the 1980’s. (http://www.porchlight.org.uk/media-centre/media-toolkits/35years/35-years-of-homelessness/) Around 1988 is when drug abuse and addiction began to get noticed as a serious problem amongst homeless youth. The Drug Abuse Prevention Program for Runaway and Homeless Youth, helped to provide the support needed to those adolescents through counseling, treatment, outreach, and referrals. The United States government gave out several grants for research and programs to help homeless youth during the 1980’s and over all it was a decade of fairly successful advocacy on behalf of youth homelessness. (http://aspe.hhs.gov/progsys/homeless/symposium/3-youth.htm)
In 1992 and 1993, researchers interviewed 6,496 adolescents aged 12 to 17. The interview asked whether the youth had ever spent 1 or more nights homeless, sleeping in a shelter, bus or train station, park, or other public area not intended for dwelling because they had nowhere else to go. The results of the interview indicated that 7.6% (or 1.6 million) adolescents were homeless for at least a night in the last year before the interview. These results are shocking because the same interview was done with adults and only 3.4% of adults reported sleeping in the streets that same year. (http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com/2011/08/05/teen-homelessness-an-american-disgrace/) Throughout the course of the 1990’s not a whole lot more happened with adolescent homelessness as far as government action or waves of new organizations or anything like that. However between the late 90’s and the early 2000’s there was an epidemic of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth that were homeless. Discrimination in the areas they were from, home, or school led to more GLBT youth running away from home to flee the cruelty and discrimination. One study showed that 26% of Gay adolescents were asked to leave home by a parent or guardian after coming out about it. GLBT youth have also reported discrimination and harassment at shelters, causing them to leave and try to make it solely on the streets instead. (http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/rg-homeless.html)
Adolescent homelessness is a problem that spreads far wider than just the United States and in the Roaring Fork Valley. Although it is an incredibly prevalent issue here in the States, Specifically major cities, and has been for decades, it is an all too present issue in many other countries as well. Through my research the countries I’ve come across that seem to have the largest youth homelessness problems are Australia, The United Kingdom and Great Britain, and Canada.
Australia specifically had come up often, as I have found many documents discussing the problem in Australia. In 2007, the first national address to Adolescent Homelessness in almost two decades was made in Brisbane, Australia. (http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/rg-homeless.html) There are between approximately 21,000 and 26,000 homeless adolescents living in Australia either “sleeping rough” which means on park benches, at bus stops, etc… or couch surfing. Of them, approximately 12,000 of them are students who attend school on a regular basis. (http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/pubs/homelessyouth/youth_homelessness/Documents/exec_sum.htm) There are about 1,500 homeless specialty services around Australia, mainly supported by SAAP, or Supported Assistance and Accommodation Program. (http://www.myerfoundation.org.au/_uploads/_cknw/files/Homelessness_june09.pdf) I believe the establishment of all these services dedicated to providing help and support to the homeless has helped significantly, as the overall number of homeless people, both adolescent and adult, has decreased about 20% since the mid-2000’s.
In the United Kingdom, there are about 75,000 homeless adolescents. The numbers have decreased slightly in England and Wales but not by much. The government in the UK has a “preventative agenda” in place to help solve the problem. It has been noticeably effective in reducing the number of homeless 16 and 17 year olds; however it reportedly has not done much good in the category of 18 to 20 year olds. There are also a lot of country specific organizations and policies designed to reduce the youth homeless population specific to that country throughout the United Kingdom. Due to all the programs helping to support the homeless and provide shelter and food, not much of the homeless population of the UK has to “sleep rough” on any given night, however most young homeless people do still go through at least a short period of it before securing temporary accommodation. Substance abuse disorders and mental health problems are major factors in youth homelessness in the UK and remain constant problems. (http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/youth-homelessness-uk) That being said, between 2010 and 2011 the number of youth sleeping on the streets of London increased 32%. “The worsening economy combined with George Osbourne’s savage cuts created the perfect storm for soaring homelessness,” according to London’s Mirror News website. This source also states that 400 youth sleep on the streets in London each night. (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/homeless-crisis-as-400-youths-a-day-95173)
In Canada, one third of the homeless population is between 16 and 24 years old, the definition of a homeless adolescent, which is actually the global average as well, about one third. This is between 8,000 and 11,000 adolescents daily, out of approximately 33,000 homeless Canadians. About one out of every seven homeless people who live in shelters is 17 years old or younger. About 10% of the people living in Canadian shelters are even younger than 15. The most disturbing fact about adolescent homelessness in Canada is the mortality rate of the homeless under 18. The mortality rate is 11 times higher than the general population of Quebec and mostly caused by suicide and drug overdose. 90% of homeless youth use psychoactive drugs. Those who used at least one were at a far greater risk for poly-drug use, or using multiple drugs. This high homeless morality rate is possibly a result of coping with a traumatic experience, possibly an addiction, and possibly just because it’s available and they don’t see any reason not to. Either way, it’s killing off lots of homeless kids. Also, rates of sexually transmitted diseases, such as Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are about 10 times higher than with other youth. Reports indicate that most of the street children in Canada would like to work, or believe working would be better than welfare or living in the streets, but many can’t. The reasons for not being able to work vary from having no permanent address to not having any work experience to not having a phone for potential employers to get a hold of them. (http://www.pictoucountyrootsforyouth.com/101-things-you-need-to-know-about-youth-homelessness.html) I found this interesting because I have heard all three of these reasons from people I know personally, homeless or not. Another report shows that homeless youth in Canada tend to shy away from organizations founded to help them such as shelters and soup kitchens. The report shows that this stems from a general mistrust of adults and lack of personal space and privacy in these settings. “Invisible Homelessness” is the most common form for these street children. It means that they try to stay in private, isolated, or generally “unseen” areas as much as possible. They couch surf or double up in homes of family members or friends to stay out of the street and off police radar. They camp out in the woods or stay in generally deserted areas. Studies show that homeless children stay as isolated as possible as to avoid being in the spotlight. (http://www.pictoucountyrootsforyouth.com/101-things-you-need-to-know-about-youth-homelessness.html)
Fortunately, the issue has been recognized in Canada. One man, Joe Roberts, is planning to push a shopping cart across his country in 2013. He’s calling it “The Push for Change: uniting homeless youth”. His goal is to walk all the way across Canada with this shopping cart and talk to street children everywhere, trying to get them to unite together to get out of whatever slump they’re in. Roberts, now 45, was kicked out of his house at a young age due to drug use and spent seven years in the streets before getting his act together and becoming a successful entrepreneur in Belleville, Canada. It is possible to go from a homeless drug addict to being a news-worthy success story. There are shelters all across Canada and there are many policies and actions put in place in order to help solve adolescent homelessness in the country. (http://www.emcbelleville.com/20120503/news/Roberts+aims+at+tackling+youth+homelessness).
The Roaring Fork Valley itself has its fair share of homeless shelters, organizations, and community efforts implemented to help reduce homelessness amongst both adults and adolescents. Youth Homelessness isn’t necessarily an overwhelming, catastrophic issue within our valley, but it certainly does exist. I, personally, have been homeless, although not for long. I believe it did have some significant effect on my outlook and “street smarts”. First off, I know I never want to go through it again. Not knowing where you are going to sleep that night is not a pleasant feeling. And honestly the thing I hated the most was not having a shower and a cup of coffee when I woke up every morning. My drug habits increased about 10 fold and my hygiene went downhill fast. I was depressed all the time. I felt like I didn’t have anything, which at that point in my life I really didn’t. I called my mom crying one night. It was pouring rain, it was freezing cold, I was soaking wet and had nothing to wear and nowhere to go. That’s when I decided to just go home and do whatever my parents asked of me. I have always had friends in the homeless community in this valley. Whether they are true bums, friends that got kicked out of their houses, or younger adults I know getting by on welfare and food stamps. There is most definetly an entire community of homeless people within our community.
The organizations in the Roaring Fork Valley that deal with homelessness and adolescent homelessness are Youthzone, Lift-up, The Aspen Homeless Sleep Center and the Homeless Day Center which works closely with the St. Mary’s Catholic Church, The Hostel in Glenwood, Habitat for Humanity, Aspen Counseling Center, Colorado West Recovery Center and Valley View Youth Recovery Center, The Valley Partnership for Drug Prevention, Feed my Sheep, and all of the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous support groups. (http://www.unitedwayofgarfieldcounty.org/booklet.pdf) Youthzone provides services to troubled and at risk youth to try to help get them back on course to become successful, contributing members of society. Lift-up offers food and care packages to homeless or poverty stricken individuals and families. They help to raise awareness and ask for canned and non-perishable food item donations to give to those in need. The homeless shelters up valley work very closely with the Catholic Church in Aspen. The homeless are given a place to sleep at night (inside the church) and are given a place to use computers and any available resources to find work and get the help they need through the day center, which is located near the Aspen Valley Hospital. This organization also provides daily meals for the homeless. Majority of the Homeless people in the valley use or have used this service. It is the most commonly recognized, known about, and available service in the valley. The Hostel in Glenwood typically serves as a temporary place to stay for tourists passing through the town for cheap, but I’ve known “homeless” people who have stayed there because of its low cost, stay as long as you want atmosphere. The rest are more support for mental and drug dependency issues that homeless and non-homeless people around the valley face. I’ve personally attended several different Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and used Youthzone and the Aspen Counseling Center to my advantage. They have helped me through the toughest period of my life so far, as well as countless other teens in the valley like myself. There is a serious lack in actual statistical information about adolescent homelessness in our valley, most likely due to the small size. There aren’t more than 150 to 200 juveniles or young adults in the valley that are homeless on any given night I would estimate.
Homeless adolescents have it tough on the streets. They face many risks on a frequent basis that many youth never face growing up. They certainly face these risks on a much more frequent basis. 1/3 of all homeless teens have witnessed a stabbing, rape, or murder. (http://www.myfriendsplace.org/whoweservestats.html) Many homeless children turn to prostitution or crime as means to survive. It is common for them to face mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress syndrome and substance abuse disorders. They are also at far greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Homeless youth are also challenged with finding legal means of finding work due to problems such as not having a phone number or permanent address. (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html)
There will probably never be a permanent solution to adolescent homelessness, however there are partial solutions and steps that can be taken to help prevent the problem and reduce the overall population of homeless youth. The problem begins at home, and home is where the solution needs to start. First of all, parents should never kick a child out of their home. Home needs to be a loving, caring environment where the youth can feel safe. Parents need to be rational, and be able to have open honest conversations with their children. They need to be able to listen without making the child feel threatened. Teenagers are emotional, and need to be able to let their feelings out and the parents need to try to understand. The more they are able to do this, the easier it will be for them to cope with their problems. Teenagers need to be allowed the independence that they desire (to an extent, anyways), but they need to realize that they need to be responsible and accountable for what happens, and learn to accept consequences, if necessary. (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html)
Unfortunately, there will always be instances of teenagers running away. Home life will never be perfect everywhere and children will end up on the streets for one reason or another. The homeless shelters and services are typically provided for adults who are homeless. This poses a major problem in some areas and leaves children with nowhere at all to go. If more resources were available for teenagers and younger homeless people, it may help keep them at least from sleeping in the streets and just my help provide the resources necessary for the youth to do something with their lives, rather than staying homeless forever because they don’t know what else to do.
Adolescent Homelessness is on the rise, and is an issue that is an all too present issue not only in the United States, but across the world. I have been homeless and I know many, many people who are either homeless right this second, or have been homeless for a period of their lives. I truly believe that it is an issue that with just a little bit of effort could be drastically reduced. Many cases of adolescent homelessness are completely unnecessary and create a delinquent, menace to society that costs tax payers money and wastes lots of people time and lives.
Citations
1. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/youth.html
2. http://www.myfriendsplace.org/whoweservestats.html
3. http://www.misd.net/homeless/statistics.htm
4. http://www.ehow.com/about_4602054_teen-homelessness.html
5. http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/RunawayandHomelessYouth.aspx
6. http://www.focusas.com/Runaways-WhyTeensRunAway.html
7. http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/1451
8. http://www.porchlight.org.uk/media-centre/media-toolkits/35years/35-years-of-homelessness/
9. http://aspe.hhs.gov/progsys/homeless/symposium/3-youth.htm
10. http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com/2011/08/05/teen-homelessness-an-american-disgrace/
11. http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/rg-homeless.html
12. http://www.myerfoundation.org.au/_uploads/_cknw/files/Homelessness_june09.pdf
13. http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/pubs/homelessyouth/youth_homelessness/Documents/exec_sum.htm
14. http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/Housing+&+Accommodation/Homelessness/
15. http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/youth-homelessness-uk
16. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/homeless-crisis-as-400-youths-a-day-95173
17. http://www.pictoucountyrootsforyouth.com/101-things-you-need-to-know-about-youth-homelessness.html
18. http://www.emcbelleville.com/20120503/news/Roberts+aims+at+tackling+youth+homelessness
19. http://www.unitedwayofgarfieldcounty.org/booklet.pdf