I have read many articles today about college students due to the recession moving back home because they cannot find a job. This current NYT article, gives the grim picture of many of the youth today that are not lucky enough to have a home to live in or move back to. These are the homeless youth that are the future of our nation and as adults will end up in the system if we do not do something about it. They learn how to live on the street and survive, to young to get a hotel room, sign a lease and in many cases get a job, they are not kids and they are not adults.
Federal studies and experts in the field have estimated that at least 1.6 million juveniles run away or are thrown out of their homes annually. But most of those return home within a week, and the government does not conduct a comprehensive or current count.
Some of them have a more stable life on the streets than the homes they have run. Many are never entered into the the federal database called the National Crime Information Center, or N.C.I.C., which among other things tracks missing people. If they are never entered into the national data base then only local authorities know to look for them.
Sadly, my son ran away more than once and it was only through the efforts of his father and I that he was located. Troubled teens know how to disappear and if they are not picked up for breaking the law they can disappear forever into a very scary lifestyle.
