Street life is no life for children

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COMING HOME AFTER school or a day with friends is something most kids take for granted, but for more than 1,000,000 young people living in this country, there is no place to call home. Youth homelessness is a complex issue that often is overlooked in the U.S.--even as we face a growing crisis of teens and children living alone on the streets. Left to fend for themselves, children as young as 11 years old confront such nightmarish scenarios as human trafficking and drug use, often with little understanding or sympathy from the general public. In June, I testified before the House Ways & Means Committee to support bipartisan resolutions designating November as "National Homeless Youth Awareness Month." Setting November aside in this way should help raise much-needed awareness of the issue, while demonstrating to kids on the streets that Congress is listening, people do want to help, and America cares about their futures.

While youngsters often become homeless due to some kind of family breakdown, there is no one cause. Poverty; lack of affordable housing, access to education, and other resources; unemployment among family members; abuse; and mental health issues all can be contributing factors. The issue of homeless youth is complicated further by misperceptions about children and teens who end up on the streets, as many people immediately jump to easy--but wrong--conclusions. For instance, when walking by a teenage girl sitting on a bench in the middle of a weekday, few might consider whether she is homeless. The easier response is to assume that she probably is just some punk kid who ditched school and is hanging around waiting for her friends. Few onlookers go so far as to consider an even darker reality--such as the fact that this girl might be forced into prostitution to make enough money to put food in her stomach.

This also is a population that is very good at making itself "invisible" to adults--since it is adults who so often have endangered or let these teens down in the past. That boy at your son's high school may seem like a nice, average kid, but he may have no home to return to after the school day; the point is, these girls and boys do not five on the streets or become homeless by choice. The sad truth: many of them feel safer there and, despite what many Americans think, this is not an easily "correctable" condition, land of opportunity or not.

I have a personal understanding of the plight of these young people on the margins, because I experienced homelessness firsthand. When I was 15 years old--I am a native of Utah but was raised in Alaska--I received a vocal scholarship to attend Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. It was a time when, for many reasons, I increasingly felt I no longer could live at home--my parents long ago had divorced--and so the change of scenery was exciting, as was the opportunity to be surrounded by music. However, school breaks--like the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas recesses--presented an immediate challenge. Unlike my fellow students, the close of class sessions meant I was on my own. I enjoyed performing solo; so, during one spring break, I jumped on a train heading south and subsequently hitchhiked to Mexico, earning money by singing on street comers. These were my first experiences of life without a safety net, but the harder reality was yet to come. After Interlochen, I moved to San Diego. As a result of a series of unfortunate events and bad breaks, I ended up living in a car. When that car was stolen, along with many of my possessions at the time, I borrowed $1,000 from a friend to buy a van--and that van became home right up until my break into the music industry.

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When my story is told in the music press, it can take on a romantic glow, but living in a van was not romantic. I washed my hair in public bathroom sinks. People often would stare at me and make nasty comments. Some would wonder aloud how a "pretty girl" could end up in such a state. Yet, many more simply pretended that I was not there. I was humiliated and embarrassed about my situation and the stigma that was being attached to me. My experience is much like that of other young people fending for themselves, except for the fact that my story has a happy ending. Too many others are not so fortunate. Homeless organizations say that 30% of shelter youth and 70% of street youth are victims of commercial sexual exploitation at a time in their lives when these boys and girls should be finishing up elementary school.

These are just a few of the reasons why I do not believe America's homeless youth population is made up of children who leave home because they want to. Most homeless kids are on the streets because they have been forced by circumstances to believe they are safer alone than in the home they once knew--if that home even exists for them anymore. Others may have reached the end of their economic resources, or those of their family's, and are left trying to climb out of poverty from the disadvantageous position of the streets.