GU 299 Week 4 Assignment 1 The Literature Review

The Literature Review

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The Literature Review

According to (Toolis, Hammack, 2015), an approximate number of thirteen children lose their lives in the streets daily. Analyzed statistics show that in every one hundred homeless children, half of them are usually below the age of fifteen. A large percentage of those children are usually not reported as missing. (Keuroghlian & Shtasel, 2014), shares that these children require mentors, guidance and counseling, good education and health care. These children are the future of the society thus my thesis statement, increased population in homeless and runaway children, more programs that support their welfare should be introduced in their lives.

Stand up for kids is a nonprofit and set out to be an initiative for purposes of helping out the vulnerable children who are either homeless or have ran away from home. It regularly needs volunteers who are passionate and are able to set their time to fix some responsibilities given to them by the organization. The organization provides these children with mentorship programs, life skills, guidance and counseling, education and tutoring, advocacy and prevention. The organization has a building that is equipped with computer labs, study classes, library, hostels, and clothing store for the children, the kitchen and living and dining rooms.

The project aims at making these children’s needs met by increasing the programs that they have in the organization. The population of homeless and runaway children have been increasing by the day. Despite the fact that today’s society views it normal for people to live in their cars or on the streets, something should be done to prevent this. The project involves adding on more educational resources which includes computers, text books and writing materials, this gives the children an opportunity to achieve their goals and be better people in the society. It also involves adding more necessities like food, beddings and clothing that should be enough for the targeted growing population.

According to there are many families that undergone extreme conflicts or the children undergo abuse or are neglected, some have poor communications with their parents which make them run away. (Aptekar & Stoecklin, 2014), found out that children who were unhappy, had interpersonal tension and felt that they were not safe or those children whose parents had marital problems caused them to run away. As shared by (Toolis, Hammack, 2015), family is very important in the upbringing of a child, a happy home makes the child happy unlike unhappy homes that affect the psychological thinking of a child. Lastly, children who have problems in foster homes also run away.

However, (Ruddick, 2014) shares that adolescents who have boyfriend and girlfriend relationships cause them to escape and become homeless because they feel ashamed or afraid of their parents. (Keuroghlian & Shtasel, 2014), shares that a poor performance in school, loneliness, pregnancy and parental conflicts at home made adolescents run away from their homes. Physical or sexual abuse, problems caused in school or crime related cases also made adolescents not stay in their homes. According to (Aptekar & Stoecklin, 2014), adolescents tend to get desperate when they seek for attention and they might do so many things to achieve that.

The small children under fifteen years who run away from the streets can barely survive on their own. They get pressure from the streets, get bullied, robbed or influenced to join bad companies that either commit crime or indulge in drugs. Most of these children suffer from hunger and tend to fall ill because of the change in environments, lack of proper diet and warm clothing. As shared by (Toolis, Hammack, 2015), they become at risk on cases like child molestation and rape cases by sexual offenders. Such cases might not be taken seriously because of the environment of the child.

Adolescents however, according to (Ruddick, 2014), face more challenges. Some of the adolescents are at risk in indulging in drugs. The pressure from stresses and depression leads them to seek refuge in drugs. A continuation of abusing drugs leads them to having an addiction and dealing with adolescents who have a drug problem in the society is very difficult. Drug abuse might also lead them to committing crimes like robbery or burglary to sustain their drug life.

According to (Tyler & Melander, 2015), the adolescents might also decide to commit suicide because of depression. Too much pressure from the society like wrong accusations on certain crimes which they might not have committed, or lack of food and money for drugs or lack of self esteem and hopeful future. They can also be sexually abused and might lack someone who can talk to or listen to their problems and act on it, thus seeking refuge on suicide.

Adolescents tend to get promiscuous under the influence of drugs. This might contribute to more early pregnancies and many street young children. This can also pose risk on health care especially concerning sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS. Doctors or medicine might not be affordable for them because they lack employment that gives them health care insurance. This contributes to a short mortality rate for the young people, leading to an increase in deaths among the youths living on the streets and their families (Tyler & Melander, 2015).

According to (Keuroghlian & Shtasel, 2014), Homeless adolescents also are at risk in engaging in prostitution or sex for survival. Their desperation to survive, might have them live with other people having sex occasionally just get a place to stay, this is called sex for survival. In prostitution, they might either get paid to participate in oral sex and work in strip clubs or brothels. (Tyler & Melander, 2015), shares that this is not good for a future generation. Thus stand up for the kids is a necessary project to keep all these children away from criminal activities, suicide, depression and promiscuity.

Reference

EE Toolis, PL Hammack. (2015), The lived experience of homeless youth, A narrative

approach.

KA Tyler, LA Melander. (2015), Child abuse, street victimization, and substance use among

homeless young adults

SM Ruddick. (2014), Young and homeless in Hollywood, Mapping the social imaginary.

L Aptekar, D Stoecklin. (2014), Street children and homeless youth.

AS Keuroghlian, D Shtasel. (2014), Out on the street