Why Do Teens Face Homelessness?

Adolescence is already such an overwhelming state of being, so no one should have to worry about whether or not they will have a safe place to sleep each night. Unfortunately, this is the plight of many teens and young adults across the nation. When youths face homelessness it burdens them with an unique set of hardships that are different than those facing homelessness as adults. They are often not even counted in normal statistic aimed at measuring the homeless population, because of many different factors. Many young people learn dangerous and sometimes illegal survival tactics or are preyed upon by those who seek to exploit the young, impressionable, and desperate. Within the population of homeless youths in America, there is a group that is facing even more setbacks and is finding even less help. …show more content…
Often LGBTQ teens’ parents or caretakers allow them to remain in their homes, for legal reasons, up until the very moment they turn eighteen, and then at midnight they day of the teens’ eighteenth birthday, a duffel bag is dropped on their laps and they are told to get out then and there (S. Reyes, 2017). Even if they are still in highschool, as long as they are eighteen, their parents can kick them out like this. Sometimes their departure is even more sudden, giving them no time to grab essentials, clothing, or even identification documents (S. Reyes, 2017). Many of do not go to shelters because of the harassment, discrimination, and stigmatization (S. Reyes, 2017). Shelters are just not places for kids to feel safe in since they mostly cater to older adults who have their own set of needs. This is one of the reasons why they are not part of statistics on homelessness. They are notoriously hard to count, hard to find, and hard to reach. This does not mean they do not exist and that they are not in desperate