Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America
At age 14 in a small town in Washington State, Natalie’s experience with homelessness began. Natalie’s dad left her family, and her mom fell into depression and started using methamphetamines. “[I]f she wasn’t drunk or high, she was gone,” Natalie noted in one part of Voices of Youth Count’s research efforts. For the next six months, Natalie cared for her four younger siblings. She started to miss school and ultimately dropped out. The stress of her circumstance mounted. Through friends, she encountered meth, a drug that had become tragically common in her community. She started using. This only added to conflict with her mom, and, after a fight with her mom’s new boyfriend, Natalie was kicked out.
▻http://voicesofyouthcount.org/brief/national-estimates-of-youth-homelessness
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