When you think of homelessness, do you think of a 14-year-old sleeping on a friend’s couch, living in an abandoned car during a When you think of homelessness, do you think of a 14-year-old sleeping on a friend’s couch, living in an abandoned car during a Wisconsin winter, or staying with strangers? This is a reality that far too many young people in our city and state face every day.
Too often these unaccompanied youth are invisible. Together, we can and must bring them out of the shadows and into the light of a compassionate society
Five years ago, my eyes were opened to the issue of homeless and unaccompanied youth in our community. This often unseen population consists of children under the age of 18 who have no safe permanent housing and who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian. These teenagers leave their family home for a variety of reasons, including family conflicts, abuse and neglect. Once on the streets, they face a multitude of risks with an estimated 5,000 homeless youth in the U.S. each year dying as the result of assault, suicide, or untreated medical problems.
When you think of homelessness, do you think of a 14-year-old sleeping on a friend’s couch, living in an abandoned car during a Wisconsin winter, or staying with strangers? This is a reality that far too many young people in our citys and states face every day. Our homeless teens are caught between two systems with nowhere to go. The child welfare care system is designed to primarily serve children 12 and younger. The adult shelter system cannot, for legal reasons, offer assistance to unaccompanied youth under the age of 18.
Gathering accurate information on the number of unaccompanied homeless youth in our communities is difficult. These young people often do not like to be identified as being homeless and many of them do not trust adults who may be trying to help them. Conservative estimates place the number of unaccompanied homeless youth in Dane County at approximately 200 on any given night.
Unaccompanied homeless youth are disproportionately teenagers of color or part of the LGBTQ community. With racial disparities and discrimination already at the forefront of public discussion, we must include the issue of unaccompanied youth in these discussions.
In a recent documentary highlighting the homeless youth problem in Dane County Wisconsin, an African-American girl, who became homeless as a teen, talks about sleeping in a friend’s car, stealing food, and seeing school as just “a free place to eat." Research shows that 75 percent of runaway and homeless youth have already or will drop out of school. We must do better as a society to address the issue of homeless youth; to help these children reconnect with school; and to prevent them from developing a long-term pattern of homelessness.
Through my work as a Dane County Board supervisor, I was fortunate to meet several community leaders who are passionate about this cause. Together, we formed the grass-roots organization Make Room for Youth, a coalition of service providers, local leaders, and volunteers who continue to advocate for the needs of unaccompanied homeless youth. With the assistance of Youth Services of Southern Wisconsin and their Briarpatch program, we have worked for the past three years toward the implementation of a comprehensive service plan to address the needs of this vulnerable population.
Our dream was to create a place where these unaccompanied youth could go, not just for a safe place to sleep, but to receive comprehensive services that would help them develop the life skills necessary for them to become responsible self-sufficient adults.
I am proud to say that this dream is nearing a reality. In February, Youth Services had a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new building on Rimrock Road in Madison. This new facility includes space for the Briarpatch Youth Shelter, which, when open, will have eight beds to provide temporary shelter to runaway and homeless youth ages 13-17. Youth Services is now working to secure operating funds for the shelter. This is progress, but there is much more work to do. Youth Services needs the community’s help to make the Briarpatch Youth Shelter a reality.
Too often these unaccompanied youth are invisible. Together, we can and must bring them out of the shadows and into the light of a compassionate society.
Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, is a member of the state Assembly.