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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children The The |
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FEATURED ARTICLES *** America's Forgotten Children - Homeless and Street Youth The average age of a homeless person in the United States is nine, and there are many kids below the age of nine on the streets, some with their families but most trying to survive on their own. Currently there are 1.3 million homeless and runaway street kids in the United States, not counting children who were forced out of their homes, abandoned by the foster care system, or are part of a homeless family. What America needs is to adopt a different drug policy. In Switzerland, the government opened up medical clinics to help drug addicts. These clinics would supply drug addicts with limited amounts of narcotics if you met the requirements. One of these requirements was that you had to stay out of jail while undergoing the treatment. It might be shocking at first to consider the government supplying people with drugs, but once you think about it, it’s very logical! It’s much healthier, because you don’t have to worry about drug overdoses or injuries from puncturing the wrong veins if a medical professional is doing it for you. There’s a dramatic decrease in crime because if you are jailed, you are immediately taken off the free treatment and you have to hustle for drugs. Employment increases because these clinics also offer help in finding jobs. But most importantly, you decrease drug users, because you put drug dealers out of business (since the treatment is free) and the patients often want to take the next step to rehabilitation. This drug policy is much cheaper than the drug policy that the United States has adopted and it has great results. Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and drugs aren’t a problem. ***
ARCHIVES *** Runaways - Where To Turn For
Help Before You Are Homeless Here are the best phone numbers to
call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell anyone about your
call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or you are in
danger. They are open 24 Hours - it doesn't
matter what time you call. In the Most runaway children do not realize
the dangers of living on the streets. According to the National Runaway
Switchboard, 75% of runaways will become involved in theft, drugs or
pornography. One out of every three teens on the street will be lured into
prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. Uplifting the
“Dangerous Classes” - What Charles Loring Brace’s
philanthropy can teach us today Homelessness, contrary to those who
date its inception to the Reagan administration, is nothing new in New York.
In June 1872, between 20,000 and 30,000 homeless and vagrant children haunted
the city, sleeping not on their grandmothers’ couches—as homelessness is
sometimes defined, as a legal matter, today—but actually on the streets. They
included newsboys and bootblacks, scrounging to survive; pickpockets working
in teams on Christopher, King, and Rivington Streets;
and gang members who stole cotton, iron, or baggage from the docks of lower
Manhattan. As early as 1852, the city’s prisons held 4,000 criminals under 21. The scale of what Brace did is
stunning, especially for those who believe that only government can undertake
large-scale efforts to help the poor. Over its first 27 years, the Children’s
Aid Society provided temporary assistance and moral instruction to the
170,000 children who passed through its seven Lodging Houses. It also placed
50,000 orphans and other street children in homes in Michigan, Wisconsin, and
other points west, in order to bring them under the “healthy influence of
family life.” And it established “21 day schools”—vocational schools for
older kids—“and 14 night schools, with an aggregate annual attendance of
about 10,000 children.” The
American Experience/The Orphan Trains ABOUT THE PROGRAM - Eighty years ago, Elliot Bobo was taken from his alcoholic father's home, given a
small cardboard suitcase, and put on board an "orphan train" bound
for Arkansas. Bobo never saw his father again. He
was one of tens of thousands of neglected and orphaned children who over a
75-year period were uprooted from the city and sent by train to farming
communities to start new lives with new families. Elliot Bobo's
remarkable story is part of The Orphan
Trains. 2
Honduran, Guatemalan youths are among the lucky few Herrera said his mother died when
he was 2, and he often ran away from home because his alcoholic father hit
him almost daily. When he grew older, he said, gangs would beat him and
threaten to kill him because he refused to join them. He went north to escape, Herrera said, and
got through Mexico mostly by bus. But his smuggler abandoned him just minutes
after guiding him into Texas. Feeling lost, the teen hopped on a bus to
Houston and was captured at a Border Patrol checkpoint. After several days in
a Border Patrol detention room, Herrera said, he was taken to Southwest Key. Martinez, who lost his father as
an infant, said he roamed the streets aimlessly to avoid his stepfather's
painful blows. One day in April 2004, after listening to friends talk about
how much people earned in El Norte, Martinez said, he embarked at 16
on his journey north. What America needs is to adopt a different drug policy. In Switzerland, the government
opened up medical clinics to help drug addicts. These clinics would supply
drug addicts with limited amounts of narcotics if you met the requirements.
One of these requirements was that you had to stay out of jail while
undergoing the treatment. It might be shocking at first to
consider the government supplying people with drugs, but once you think about
it, it’s very logical! It’s much healthier, because you don’t have to worry
about drug overdoses or injuries from puncturing the wrong veins if a medical
professional is doing it for you. There’s a dramatic decrease in crime
because if you are jailed, you are immediately taken off the free treatment
and you have to hustle for drugs. Employment increases because these clinics
also offer help in finding jobs. But most importantly, you decrease drug
users, because you put drug dealers out of business (since the treatment is
free) and the patients often want to take the next step to rehabilitation. This drug policy is much cheaper
than the drug policy that the United States has adopted and it has great
results. Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and drugs
aren’t a problem. Concrete Is Cold And
Hard At Night: The Children’s Voices RUNAWAY
AND DISCARDED CHILDREN
- “I work a few hours a day for a guy who doesn’t give a sh.t
how old I am. I think he knows I ran away but he needs me to work so he
doesn’t say anything. I make enough to stay drunk and high so it’s not so
bad. I live in squat with a bunch of other kids and we all go out and
panhandle to make extra cash.” [scroll down] Sex trafficking is known to destroy the lives of women and children internationally, but it is also "homegrown" and devastates the lives of American youth from all economic levels. Summer is fast approaching and with it an increase in the number of children living on the streets at risk for increased commercial sexual exploitation. They live in fear of losing their coping mechanisms (drugs and alcohol), and fear of losing a place to live and food to eat. These children are also ashamed and fear their families will find out what they have been doing. They fear the police and fear being returned home. Statement
of Chris Swecker Assistant Director, Criminal
Investigative Division, FBI Juveniles who become involved in
sexual trafficking face a myriad of obstacles and enormous needs if they want
to leave that life, including very basic needs such as safe housing,
subsistence, and schooling. In addition, they may need drug treatment,
medical treatment, and mental health services. They may have problems related
to victimization prior to their life on the streets. Most cannot return to
their family of origin, so they need help to prepare for independent living. Stand Up For Kids -
Street Outreach WHO NEEDS
THE HELP? - A viable
street outreach program is not solely concerned with finding homeless kids
who are interested in staying in a shelter. While identifying kids, who may
require shelter assistance, we must also provide support to those who, for
one reason or another; (1) have to live on the streets, (2) aren't ready for
more of the establishment, (3) are afraid to go to a shelter, (4) have a
police record and fear incarceration or (5) are afraid that they will be sent
home. America's
Forgotten Children - Homeless and Street Youth The average age of a homeless
person in the Ending
the quiet tragedy of modern-day slavery In the past 12 months, immigration
agents have raided a number of suspected brothels in quiet San Francisco
neighborhoods, exposing a previously unseen tragedy. Despite shock at how it could
happen here, prostitution of youth is sadly all too common in our community
and, in fact, often involves children as young as 9 years old. Child
prostitution is a devastating problem that few people want to talk about. The
fact remains that rarely do child prostitutes begin selling their bodies on
their own. Many are coerced into the lifestyle and forced into virtual
slavery by traffickers and pimps. According to the advocacy organization
Standing Against Global Exploitation, 85 percent of child prostitutes
previously suffered incest, rape or abuse at home, and are often singled out
by pimps because they are runaways. - htsccp Teen
prostitution is also a suburban problem, says former Minneapolis mayor Hofstede The most vulnerable category of
children susceptible to becoming involved in prostitution are
runaway or homeless youths, the report notes.
A child is usually approached by a person willing to pay for sex
within 36 to 48 hours of the child being on the street, the report states. While a 1997 Wilder Research
Center study estimated that there are some 730 homeless youth s in Minnesota
on any given night, other social agencies put the figure much higher ó as
high as 2000 to 3000. WE’RE HERE TO HELP - Children of the Night is dedicated to assisting children between the ages of 11 and 17 who are forced to prostitute on the streets for food and a place to sleep. Youth Care - Surviving Seattle's Streets There are close to 1,000 homeless
youth in Seattle every night. They sleep in cars, abandoned buildings, under
bridges and on friend’s couches. These young people are often homeless
because the streets are safer than home. Many have been abused and abandoned.
Their stories are tragic. Once on the streets, kids have few resources to
find food, clothing and shelter for survival. Without proper resources youth
are more likely to turn to destructive behaviors, such as crime, prostitution
and drugs. 100 REASONS TO MOVE BEYOND THE
STREET - Every young
person deserves a roof over their head and a safe place to call home.
Unfortunately, there are far too many of our youth who—through no fault of
their own—are without homes and without safe places to live and learn. In Covenant House International is
the largest privately-funded agency in the Americas providing shelter and
other services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth. In addition to food, shelter,
clothing and immediate crisis care, Covenant House provides a variety of
services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth including medical care,
educational and vocational programs, drug abuse treatment and prevention
programs, legal aid services, recreation programs, mother/child programs,
transitional living programs, life-skills training and street outreach. The Covenant House NINELINE (1-800-999-9999
/ www.nineline.org) received and immediately responded to more than 48,000 crisis
calls from youngsters all over the United States who needed immediate help
and had nowhere else to turn. Acercatel, the
Covenant House 24-hour national crisis hotline in Mexico, received and
responded to more than 13,000 crisis calls. The Sexual Exploitation of Children - A Working Guide to the Empirical Literature [PDF] [page 22, section D] RUNAWAY,
"THROWAWAY" AND STREET CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES 1. Prevalence 2. Causes/Risk Factors Associated With Running Away 3. Social and Health Risks of Runaway & Street Youth--Including Sexually Exploited Youth 4. Gangs and Gang Culture Among Runaway/Street Youth 5. Homeless Youth - sccp All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
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