Juveniles

Children and their parents comprise over one-third of all the people in homeless shelters (Berck 17).  Children are embarrassed to be homeless or to live in a shelter.  They can’t invite any friends over or call them on the phone. 

 You could wake up to a baby screaming at four a.m. in the morning, while sleeping on a cot.  Many teachers, at schools in places where a lot of kids are homeless, are used to seeing children falling asleep at their desks.  They may not be able to sleep because they are in a room with seven or eight people, and some could be infants.  In the cafeteria, when the kids eat like they’re starving, or ask for seconds and thirds, maybe it’s because they didn’t eat dinner last night.  Or maybe they didn’t eat all day.

    You won’t have as many things as your best friend does.  You might only have two shirts to wear.  And you won’t have money to buy new clothes or jewelry.  Even if you did, you wouldn’t have it very long.  In shelters, your clothes or possessions could easily be stolen.  But most times, there’s no where else to go.  Maybe you used to be able to live in an apartment, but it might be too dangerous to remain there.

Elizabeth:
Where we used to live - the fourteenth floor  was really dangerous.  The roof was very close, and we used to see people up there shooting guns or fighting.   One morning, somebody was dead outside.  We used to be scared all the time, so my mother took us to a shelter (Berck 33).