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.