Here’s a tragic figure for you: “It’s a known fact that 1 out of every 7 kids in our country, at one time or another, will run away from home. Runaway kids come from every social strata — from the very rich to the very poor.”
Bob Parson’s Hot Points! blog looks at the tragedy of runaways…from the first decision a kid makes to run away, to the feeling of disorientation when it hits him that he’s alone, to doing “survival sex, ” to getting on drugs to stop thinking about the survival sex, to the refusal to call home and tell how bad it is or seek to go home.
But there is hope: as he puts his city of Phoenix under the micrscope, he details the work of Project Homebase which tries to get to these kids to give them a lifeline — and a second chance. He writes:
It is the rare occasion for HomeBase, when a homeless youth has HomeBase reach them before they fall victim in one way or another to a predator. It’s estimated that homeless youth fall prey to predators within 48 hours after arriving on the streets. This fact, makes the already difficult job HomeBase has to do that much more challenging. The reason is that the kids HomeBase is reaching out to, have already been traumatized by the streets and it takes a considerable while to earn their trust.
HomeBase is not without its success stories. Last year, it provided assistance to over 1,941 homeless youth, and helped 10 homeless youth obtain their GED. And, with HomeBase’s assistance, 35 youth were able to get decent jobs and get off the street.
Read his whole post. Click on his link to HomeBase. Then think what you can do to help, because kids on the mean streets in Phoenix — or anywhere else — are all of our kids.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.