Footie

Today we watched a video about a homeless man called "Footie" who was essentially given an apartment for free by an organization called "Pathways".

The organization aims to help the chronically homeless, who typically suffer from mental disabilities and addiction.  This subset of homeless people seem to be very difficult to work with, and I applaud Pathways for taking the steps to help them because they are the homeless who are easily forgotten or uncared about by the rest of society.

While I was watching the documentary I felt somewhat irritated at Footie's reaction to the entire situation at first. In response to someone offering him a house without requiring him to change at all he left and got drunk, making the people who gave him such a generous offer search for him in the city. That is a very sad thing. How could anyone in Footie's situation treat such an offer with such little respect? Why should I support Pathways in trying to help this seemingly ungrateful type of homeless person if they're not going to appreciate it?

Granted, it did seem that Footie was happier in his home and that he had clothes in his drawers, and he did say thank you once. But who wouldn't be happier? It's just that it seemed like he expected all of these things for himself without showing any sort of gratitude toward the people who helped him. That irritates me. Assistance should never be an expectation, but a gift that needs to be appreciated.

Giving to People Who Give

Today I watched this video about a man who dressed up as a homeless person and asked for "anything" that would help him. People who gave were surprised to find the man giving them twenty dollars in addition to their money back.

This really goes to show that the homeless need to be looked at as individuals just as those who are not homeless need to be looked at as individuals. If we assume that all people are bad people, then we never really give people a chance to show that they're good. But with a little bit of interaction with individuals, we find that there are some good and some bad.

This is how we really must approach the problem of homeless people, by looking at each one individually and touching each individual's life rather than bringing numbers in a statistic down through universal programs (although programs for the poor are extremely helpful, we must focus on each individual in order to help them get back on their feet). Homelessness must be solved on an individual level, through human interaction and encouragement, or else it will continue on and peoples lives will remain without a roof.

"She's Trying to Get Better"

That's what my friend Chloe told me about her mom throughout her time with us.

It's hard to believe that someone so close to Amy didn't realize that she wasn't trying. She wasn't trying to get a job. She wasn't trying to quit smoking. She wasn't trying to use her food stamps for nutritious meals for her kids. She simply wasn't trying, yet to Chloe, her daughter, she was trying her hardest. This is the issue with children of homeless parents.

Everyone is born with a disposition to see their parents in a good light. We like to think that our parents are always trying to do what's best for us, and typically this is the case. But with parents like Amy, this disposition only leads to disappointment and prolonged unhappiness.

Chloe constantly defended her mom no matter what, only to be left in the wake of her mistakes.  She was brainwashed, and it was only when Chloe moved in with her dad that she really began to see just how terrible Amy had treated her.

Children of homeless parents don't understand how bad their situation is and if they do they believe their parents will make it better even when they're not trying to. This is why homeless children end up as homeless adults, because they don't want to leave their parents in order to get help and grow as people while they're still young enough to be pushed in the right direction.

It is only when children are separated from their negligent homeless parents that they can see the world as a world of opportunity.

Here are some related statistics:

Parents of Homeless Youth

Today I finished Paulie’s story in “Almost Home,” which described the transition of a normal thirteen-year-old boy to a homeless teenager who fell into drug addiction and homelessness. What struck me most about the story was the main causes of Paulie’s homelessness: his father’s uncontrollable abuse and his mother’s neglect to help him. It's just shocking that nothing was ever done about these things. 

Parents should be the first safety net in keeping their children off the streets and from making bad decisions. Regardless of a parent’s financial situation, they should always strive to make their child more adaptable to the world around them in order to have a better future.  Without this vital safety net, many kids fall into an unstable lifestyle full of homelessness and crime. This happened to Paulie, yet nothing was done about his parents actions. 

The parents of these children should be held more accountable for the situation they’ve left their children in, and some sort of mandatory financial assistance should be coming from them. When you have a child, you are financially responsible for that child until such time as they turn 18. It's appalling that parents can get away with not taking care of the basic needs of their children, on top of not being a good role model in the first place.

Something needs to be done about parents like this. 

My Experience with a Homeless Family

When I was in the 6th grade I met Chloe, a nice girl who I had quickly become very good friends with. We hung out after school and my family got to know her pretty well, and they found out that her situation was less than ideal. Her, her two siblings, and her mother had been in and out of homeless shelters their whole lives. My mom had talked to her mom, Amy, and soon enough Chloe was living with us while Amy was trying to get back on her feet. Or so, we thought she was trying to get back on her feet.

We found that Amy was not the type of person who wanted to help herself or her family. She let her kids live with people she barely knew, used her food stamps to buy drugs, and never looked for a job in all the time we knew her. Chloe ended up living with us for three years on and off, occasionally going back to live with her mom wherever she was.

My mom tried very hard to get Chloe and her family into a suitable home, providing Amy with suggestions, means of finding a job, and financial assistance. It was all very futile.

My mom also contacted DSS for help, but they didn't do very much. Eventually, however, DSS found Chloe's father. Her and her sister went to live with him and his family, whom we met and found to be much better for Chloe than her mother.

A few months after this happened Amy was found dead in a motel room, she had overdosed. Only three of her five children attended the funeral.

This was my first experience with a homeless family. It shaped, and continues to shape, how I look at homeless people.

I will never forget Amy, and because of her I will always be skeptical of homeless adults with children. She used them for her own benefit, and she never put them first. That situation also taught me that the desire to help yourself and get better is necessary to find a home. That's why I believe the only true solution to homelessness lies on an individual level. You must get to know someone and help them see that getting better is vital, and if they can't see that then you simply cannot help them. You can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves.