Homeless Families Need to Be Given a Chance.

For some, being homeless sounds like a nightmare - for others, being homeless is pure reality. How many of you have witnessed a homeless person holding a sign up on the side of the road? You try not to look at them, you try to look the other way - you do not want to look into their eyes. They notice that you are doing this. They know that you do not want to look at them. Some choose to shout mean things at them, like "get a job, " or worse. They're just people that are trying to survive. Sure, you live in a world where you get up each morning and go to work, then come back to your home.

Yet, there are some that do not have this opportunity. They apply for jobs and get frowned upon. Not many employers give homeless people a chance to work for them. They are too afraid that they will take things from the company, when in all actuality, this may solve a lot of problems. In this day and age, we are seeing more and more homeless families walk into the shelters with nothing more than the clothes on their back and the shoes (if any) on their feet.

When you look at a homeless family, you see a family that has been stricken by sadness and parents that have been stricken with guilt. They feel as if they are the ones to blame for their children having to suffer. Some leave their children in the shelter in hopes that they will have a better life, while others choose to stick beside their children.

They may have become homeless because of a house fire. Their mother and father could have lost their job or maybe they had an addiction, but we are not here to judge them. We are here to lend a helping hand just like you should be doing. Below, we are going to look at some facts on homeless families.

When you take a brief look at the background of these families, you will see a high amount of traumatic stress. We're going to start by looking at homeless mothers.

Fact number one: ninety two percent of the homeless mothers have experienced some type of sexual or physical assault in their lifetime.

Fact number two: Forty four percent of them have lived outside of their homes at some point when they were kids. Of these forty four percent, twenty percent of them were put in foster care.

Fact number three: Thirty six percent of the homeless women have experienced what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a rate that is three times higher than other women. There are three facts on homeless women. Now, we are going to look at some facts on homeless children.

Fact number one: Thirty four percent of the school-aged children that have been homeless have lived away from their families at one point in their life.

Fact number two: Homeless children are known for suffering from behavioral or emotional problems. These problems have an effect on their learning.

Fact number three: Homeless children that are between the ages of six and seventeen years of age struggle with a high amount of mental health problems. As an example, forty seven percent of them have depression, anxiety or withdrawal.

Now that we have gotten some of the facts out of the way, there are some other things we would like to discuss with you. Have you ever thought about how a homeless person would go about getting a job? What phone number would they give? What about their address? How are they supposed to get a house if they do not have a recent reference with a landlord and address?

There are many things, such as this, that we take for granted, yet, they are a big problem for the homeless. There are working centers that are giving bus tickets, message systems that are used for getting job calls and resume help. However, there need to be more than this.

Another obvious issue amongst these families is food. If this issue is not addressed first, then everything else will be in the back seat. There are some helping hands that have started community gardens offering their land to those who would like to grow their own food but do not have land in their name.

Those unemployed homeless people are frequently tagged as being lazy when this simply is not the fact. There are homeless people that would love to have a job, but they are faced with numerous obstacles that are impossible to get past. Then, you have to take into account their appearance. The appearance is unkept, their clothes have been weathered and they have not been groomed. Many employers shun them away.