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inspiredcreativity β Street Kids Need Help
Published: 2010-01-26 13:43:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 5893; Favourites: 42; Downloads: 76
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This is a PDF Document. Click on [link] (DOWNLOAD) to Read it or Download it.Please also read my deviation on [link] (GBLT HOMELESS YOUTH).
Kids on the Streets of America, as well as all over the world, are in desperate straights. I cannot do much about the rest of the planet, but I live in Seattle and we have a very serious problem of increasing numbers of Street Kids, who are DYING AT A RATE OF 13 KIDS PER DAY.
2 Million kids are going onto the street EVERY YEAR (according to 20/20, 1-29-2011). In 2009, the drop-in rate at Seattle Youth Shelters rose 63%. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years oldβtoo young to work and terrified of being send back home or into the child welfare system.
These kids are in desperate need of a hot meal a day and a safe place to sleep. There is a significant shortage of shelter beds specifically for ages 18-25. For Street Youth under 18, shelters require parental permission or state placement, and are thus not of any use to most Street Kids under 18, who are left to fend for themselves outside or in abandoned buildings, or forcing them to offer sex for shelter. There is not enough money to offer the kids food every night. They are also in desperate need of sleeping bags, underwear, socks, coats, warm sweatshirt, hand sanitizer, and toiletries.
Few care about these kids. There are only a handful of private charities taking care of Street Kids. 40% of Street Kids are GBLT Youth, most of whom were thrown out on the street when their parents found out they homosexual or bisexual. The other kids were either abandoned, thrown out, or ran from physical, mental and/or sexual abuse, or from violence in the home, alcoholic or drug addicted parents, or irreconcilable differences with a parent or parents.
Seattle Street Kids could really use your help. $5 can go a long way. We do not have enough to feed them every night, which is heartbreaking.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out.
Matthew Barry
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Comments: 52
I am really happy to hear that you are doing Ok. It is especially bad for those under 18, because you cannot get a job (except under the table) and you cannot get into shelters without parental permission (which is so not happening). Younger kids are also more vulnerable to exploitation and violence on the street. In Seattle we have some pretty good services for those over 18, especially in the U-Districtic (University of Washington).
If you are still on the streets, I hope that you can find a home soon.
All the best,
Matthew
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I can relate. I volunteered once in Romania, for a summer, and just a real story:
So I used to go to this mall "Orhidea" near a canal bridge, and buy food for two small nearby groups: one who slept on a vacant lot, the other in a heating "centrala". Anyway, so one day a group of youngsters from somewhere in the UK on a "mission trip" came. I asked two of them to go with me to the mall, in the hope that will help me with the bills. In the end they did not help me even with the bags.
So mate, it's an honor to comment on your page. Keep on.
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Thank you. It is nice to meet another volunteer. I hear that there are a lot of kids on the street in Romania. When economics get bad, more kids go on the street. In America it is especially bad because it is against to law to shelter kids under 18. They claim it helps runaway kids. Of course most kids who run are running for a reason. We have around 670,000 Gay Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth who are thrown out onto the street each years by their parents, for being LGBTQ. Others parents can no longer afford the kids, and just abandon them somewhere. One boy I met was given a bus ticket to visit a relative who did not exist. He called home and the number was disconnected. He had been a good student. other kids run from physical, sexual, or emotional abuse at home.
We can operate food centers where the kids can come each night for a hot meal. We also hand out new underwear, socks, sleeping bags (when we can afford it) and other necessities. In America, you cannot get a job under 18 years old, without permission from parents. So kids cannot find work. Most end up selling their bodies for shelter and food.
Sorry to hear your story. Some of those mission groups are more like a free vacation for some, paid for by a church. Some do good work, some don't do anything.
I stopped working at age 34 so that I could devote my life to volunteer work. It is very rewarding work, but at times really difficult when you are so limited in what you can do to help.
All the best,
Matthew
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Thank you, and keep it up.
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Hell, if I had a hundred dollars, I'd give it to you. If I still lived in Seattle {Parent job moved, so naturally, I had to go to} I'd go and try and help. But alas, I just gave the money I had to my church...If I manage to save up a decent amount, I'll talk to my parents about donating
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I am really happy to hear that you care. Last year, it was reported that over 2.2 million kids were homeless in America. What is really horrible is that no shelter can accept a child under 18 years old, by law, without parental permission, so most do not accept them at all. The vast majority of those kids were discarded by their parent, or the kids ran from abuse. Parental permission would either be impossible or dangerous.
In addition, every month, kids are "Aging Out" of foster Care. Many foster Care parents do it for the money, not to be decent parents. The moment kids turn 18, the money stops and the kids are tossed out onto the street.
There are street kids in most cities. You can google "street kids" then your city, to see if you have a local organization. Otherwise, I listed two national one I think, such as Covenant house and Stand Up for Kids.
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It's such a depressing topic...I should send an email to my school's principal or something and see if we can do a fundraiser or something. And thanks for the names of the national organizations! I shall start saving up money!
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Sounds like a good idea to me.
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Thank you. The situation has gotten more and more desperate since I wrote it. The recession has caused more kids to be on the street. Some parents just dump their kids on the street. Some give you a bus ticket to visit a relative, only there is no relative. For kids 18 years old it is also worse. Many foster parents are in it for the money. The moment the child turn 18, they are put out to the home. Every month we see a flood of kid across the nation "AGING-OUT" of the system. They end up homeless.
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that's really sad...i've heard that in America the parents have the right to put their child out of home when he\she is 18.that's really sad,because the most of the people are not mature enough and ready to leave home at that age.and they usually end in the streets like your article says.
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Thank you for caring. Sadly, there are parents in America who put kids as young as 13 years old out onto the street for being homosexual. It is around 670,000 homosexual children put out onto the street each year, mostly by Christian parents. In America, there are around 2.2 million children under 18 living on the streets, under bridges, in sewer pipes...
When a child becomes an orphan (parents die), or when a child is removed from home because of neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or sexual abuse, that child is put either in a group home or in foster care. A Group home is a home with around 12 to 24 children and one or two adults to supervise them. Foster care is when you are placed in a family. I was a foster father to a 7 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. If you do it through the government, you are paid money to help you with the cost of raising the child. Unfortunately, there are many people making money on this. They take in foster children, but spend almost nothing on the them, making profit. As soon the child reaches 18 years old, they are thrown onto the street, even if they have not yet graduated from school.
But even regular families will tell you to get out, as soon as you are 18. Thankfully this is not done a lot, but it does happen.
The children on the streets die at a high rate, from violence, from disease, from drug and alcohol overdose and from suicide. Almost all of them must sell their bodies for sex to be able to eat.
In america, you need parental permission to work, so these kids cannot get a job.
In america, you cannot go to a shelter if you are under 18 years old. The law says you have to have parental permission to stay in a shelter. If your parents threw you onto the street, or if you ran from physical or sexual abuse, you obviously cannot get parental permission. Most of these parents cannot even be found to give permission. Other kids are afraid of being found.
The level of cruelty and neglect of these children is disgusting.
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Thank you for caring. Someday maybe you can help. In each city and many town there will be either a shelter or soup kitchen. Kids under 18 are not permitted in shelters unless they have parental consent. So i guess if you run from abuse, a father raping you, etc, you have to have your parents told where they find you to get you back and continue the abuse. Kids discarded by parents typically cannot even be reached and if they could, most would not grant permission. This means that the vast majority of underage kids have to sleep outside, or sell their bodies to get shelter and food.
There are a large number of 18 to 24 year old young people who Age-out of foster care. Many Foster parents are doing for the money they get for each child from the State. When kids turn 18, the money stops and the Foster parents say, "Get out." This results in a flood of 18 years old kids going homeless each year. Unless they earned a large enough scholarship in school, to cover college, housing and living expenses, they are screwed.
No one seems to care. there are no government programs to help these kids on the street. 2 Million kids go homeless each year. 40% of them are GLBTQ. Most of them were either thrown out onto the street, or driven out of their home by hate and harassment, once the family discovers their sexual orientation. There are a lot of very cruel Americans, and even more who do not care about Kids starving, dying of diseases and violent assaults, taken for sexual slavery, etc.
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are the kids even protected by law in the united states? how can the parents leave them on the streets isn't there a law which protects the kids until they're 18?
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Alas, there really is no such law. In fact, if a child run from his or her home, because of sexual, physical, or mental abuse, no one can help the child without breaking the law. It is called aiding a runaway. No homeless shelter can let a child spend the night in the shelter, out of the cold, unless they have parental consent, consent from the abusing parents looking for the child to abuse some more and punish. Children are treated like property of parents in the United States.
Only in cases of proven abuse can Child Protective Services remove the child from harm. But even then, the child goes into protective care. Sometimes kids are put in Juvenile prison if they have no beds for him or her. Then the child typically goes to Group homes full of kids with just one or two adults. Here there is notorious bullying and rape. Kids who run could go to the State and get put into protective custody, but they are too afraid from the horror stores told.
Chances are that Protective Custody is safer than the streets, but most kids opt for the streets, thinking they can care for themselves. Young kids thrown out are in shock and have no idea what to do or where to go. I know because I have helped some.
Sometimes parents are not abusive, they just are not very good parents and the kids grow up unruly, then decide they don't want to put up with their parents, so they run. These are the easiest to return home with some hope of them staying, but some kids are ruled as Habitual runaways, and go to jail.
It is a crime for a child to run away from home, no matter the reason. If a child is caught, who has run away from home, he or she can be put in jail. First time usually has no jail, but second time does.
The entire system is designed on the principle that parents are always wonderful and kids runaway from home because they are ungrateful beasts. The ones who write the laws are no doubt some of the worse parents around. HOW DARE MY CHILDREN RUN AWAY FROM MY JUST PUNISHMENT!
In divorce, children get no say about which parent to live with.
I took care of two children for about a year and a half. They were neglected and abused for the second time. The court took the kids away from us and sent them back into that hellhole. The kids were finally smiling again and getting good grades at school.
You are property until age 18.
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wow, that's really shitty -.-
i hope it will be better in the future (i dont know how obama or other important ppl think about it?)
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Once you are an adult, few care about the rights of children, because now you can own your own children, lol. It is surprisingly difficult to get any help for Street Kids. Adults take the view that if kids have run-away from home, they deserve to die on the streets. If they don't like, it let them go home. This is like Queen Marie Antoinette, who when told that her people were starving to death, they have no bread to eat, she said, "Let them eat cake." Privileged adults in power are out of touch with reality. They do not understand, or care that these kids have been thrown out on the street for being GLBTQ, or ran from being raped, beaten, etc.
Judges and lawyers keep saying they are doing what is best for the child, but I seldom have seen that happen. Fathers are routinely stripped of parental rights, and seldom given custody. People complain about absentee fathers, but the system is built to encourage that.
In divorce, parents often use children as pawns for revenge against each other. Fathers pay child support, then are given little in visitation rights. The mothers can move to another country, to other states, and the father is effectively cut-off from his children. If both parents are decent people, then they work out a fair arrangement. Sadly, this does not happen often enough. There are also deadbeat fathers of course, who never had any interest in the children, but this is not so typical now.
Most parents care for their own children, but do not want to spend money to help kids on the street. If your parents want to help, I can give you a couple of organization who help Street Kids, and they can donate to them.
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How blind politicians and other ppl are o_o.
Hey, nice idea :'D. Is it possible via paypal?(i live in germany and we dont have mastercard or visa)
My parents wouldn't really want to spend money on other ppl, but they said I can pay things in their name when i give them the money back :'D. Then I could probably pay one day (i think i wouldnt be allowed at the moment, cause my marks aren't really good..)
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I have been a bit overwhelmed time wise, which is why it took me so long to answer. There are Street Kids in Germany. Here is a Google search to show you: [link] Perhaps you can help your local charity for Street kids instead of here in Seattle. I bet they need it. If you wish, I can still check into the possibility of donating here with Paypal.
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umm hard to choose. in germany the kids can be helped when they want, they only dont choose to (or they don't know). even ppl who live on the street can choose if they want a flat or stay on the street. no matter which option they choose they will get their monthly money (Harz4). i think in the US it'S something else.
i found out theres a local help (okay those things are everywhere, but i didnt know in my near) for poor people. there are free meals for the ppl and when they bring their pets they get pet food too. i think i'll help them ^-^
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In America, they do not have an option to live in a flat and they do not get money from the government. There are always some who will choose to stay on the street, but part of that is because it has become the world they know. A woman who is being beaten by her husband stays and stays. She often fears the unknown more than the pain.
I am glad to hear that you will be helping. It will be good for you and feel good for you too.
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This is a great piece of information! I can tell you're engaged with the organization, and I congratulate you for the work you've been doing. If I live in the US, I'd love to help you, but maybe some other day
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Thank you. The problems of Street Kids exist in most countries. I have never had a chance to visit Chile, but I have been to Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil and all of Central America, and they all have very serious Street Kid problems. Perhaps someday you can help the street kids of Chile. They can seem invisible, blending into the background, but they are there, typically in the biggest cities.
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I live in Santiago, the capital, which is also the biggest city (about 5-6 million people). Chile is, as far as I know, one of the best countries to live in Latinamerica. There is no point of comparison with Central America, for example, or Brazil. According to the UNICEF, the 3,2% of our population are Street People, and about the 13%, people who live in poverty (2006). We have many organizations which help poor people (like Techo para Chile -a Roof for Chile- which builds homes for poor people), and the Government is constantly worrying about them.
Anyway, I still hope I can help them actively once I finish school, and more once I get a degree
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How many sufferings around the world...how much sorrow and despair! Is there any hope for things to get better? Or will human beings destroy themselves before they find a way out and start feeding their souls with unconditioned Love?
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Personally, I have no hope for humanity at all, so you will have to supply the hope, LOL. These kids are ignored by people. I bet you have Street Kids too...
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Yes we have, but very few...they are mostly gipsy. I know that in other countries there are lots of them, and ignoring them is a shame! Human beings are probably loosing their humanity and I'm afraid that a decline process started...
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It is a relief to know that you do not have very many street kids in Italy. There are Eastern European nations with very large numbers of street kids, as well as parents prostituting their children on the streets. In those countries, underage prostitution is big business and there is a lot of human slave trafficking of children, all for the sex trade. Human slave trafficking of children exists in the United States and all of the world.
When Greg and I was in Thailand, in Bangkok and Chaing Mai, we were constantly propositioned by young children. At night, we would get into a Tuk-Tuk ([link] [link] ) and tell the driver where we want to go. They always would pull out 3-ring binders full of photos of girls, little girls, and young women. We would like shake our heads no and the drivers would make a sound, then pull out another binder full of pictures of little boys, some looked to be 8 to 10 years old and up. The idea would be that you would choose one and he would take you to the appropriate brothel.
One night, we asked to go to a restaurant we were told about, then went through saying no to the binders of kids, and the driver took us to place. We go in and there is a long narrow room with long plank benches going down each wall and there were young boys sitting all along them. They all stood up and tried to get out attention by various methods best left unmentioned.
This kind of thing happned all the time. In the day, you would find yourself at a jewelry shop of the drivers cousin, uncle, etc. If you want to be taken to your destination, have to at least take a quick look.
Somebody told me that the government there was cracking down on child exploitation for the sex trade, but I do not know it that is true. It is most sad. We met a guy at a party once who took a job in Thailand. From his comments, I believe he took the job there for the easy access he would get to boys, for sex.
These problems exist all through Africa and South America. The tragedy is beyond imaginations limits.
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This is terrible and makes me feel ashamed of belonging to the human race! But is there anything we can do about this huge, awful problem? I feel powerless...
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It is Americans, and of course the problem is horrendous in other parts of the world, as I mentioned to you before. There are a lot of Predators in the world, and when enough of them are in positions of power, the laws will continue to favor them.
There is a boy who was snatched years ago, then his pictures started showing up on the internet, tied up and gagged and in sexual situations. Someone sent them to the mother, along with the web address, who called the FBI. They did nothing.
Go here [link]
Then scroll down until you see pictures of boys tied up. You will have to scroll all the way to the bottom. It is a long way. No need to read it, because it is all old news.
The boy would be grown up now and she says he contacted her, but is afraid to surface. The sex pedophile rings are international. An investigation found links to boy prostitutes being sent into the White house a number of times under Bush, not for the President , but for some of his people. The names were even in the log book for visitors. Then the investigation suddenly stopped. They said it went nowhere.
Men of power keep the things protected and going strong. They get paid in boys, girls and sex. These kids are brainwashed as subservient slaves.
There is great evil in the world, and these great evils cannot be fought until regular people start caring. When there was a big police bust of pedophiles in Europe, information about American members of the pedophile were sent by Interpole to the U.S. Nothing came of it, despite many arrests in European countries.
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I went to the link and watched. Words are useless, as you said. It's so difficult not to loose hope and faith!
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I was cryptic in my Note to you because I am not sure your DA is private at home.
No there is not much to say. I cried at the time I saw this. I know about the mind conditioning they use on boys and girls. They hogtie them as seen then with their knees against their chests, then the predator sits on them, compressing their longs, and suffocating them. They do this until panic arises, again and again. If the child hesitates a split second to obey an instruction, more suffocation.
The children cannot eat or drink until they sexually perform with enthusiasm. This is built over time. They are conditioned that if they even try to escape their families will be murdered. It goes on.
Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped on October 6, 2002, he was 11. He was born in1991. He was kidnaped by a then 36 year old 300 lb (136.1 KG) Michael J. Devlin. 5 years later, Shawn was getting to old for the pedophile. So Devlin snatched on little boy, 13-year-old Ben Ownby. Shawn waited some days, then he escaped with the other little boy and walked until they got to the police station in town. He tried to get the other boy to go in, but he was scared to leave Shawn. A police officer saw them outside and came out to see them. Shawn had planned on running. He had been told that his parents did not want him and had given him away. He figured he was dead unless he could get far away, but had no plans after that.
But the police brought him in too, but Shawn could not remember his own name. They eventually figured out who he was. The impetus to break his mind conditioning and to escape, was that he did not was the other little boy to live through what he had.
As the days went by, suddenly the news was abuzz with stories about how shawn might have participated in the rape of the other boy. Then it was discovered that Shawn had access to a phone, was out of school and played with other kids in the neighborhood.
We have a radio talk show host named Bill O'Reilly who is a disgusting human being of the lowest order. the things he does and says to people are disgusting, demeaning, cruel, etc and people LOVE him for it and lap it all up. He is very popular.
Bill O'Reilly says, on the radio for all to hear, that Shawn could have left and did not leave because he must have liked getting up the ass. He said this abut a boy kidnapped and sexually assaulted for 5 years. Other Americans agreed and it the country was a twitter about it.
I hope that now you understand the mind conditioning that a boy like Shawn went through. Leaving, escaping was not a thought he would have entertained. He adapted in his mind and even forgot who he was. Disobedience was not an option, not ever. He was given freedom after full conditioning, when it was known he would not even try to escape. He pretended to be the man's son and he was kept out of school, and no one ever checked.
I tell this story because anyone with any compassion and a brain, spending a few seconds of thought, would have some understanding that this boy stayed for a reason. It is called Stockholm Syndrome.
The boy denied any sexual contact happened and stuck to the story for a while. He went on Oprah with his parents and they did not discuss sexual abuse. Shawn would have been overcome with shame. I know what it is like to be raped, twice, and it is a terrible burden of shame and guild, and it was done to him for years.
Worse, it happened to another boy the same way, only he was gone 7 years and his name was Steven Stayner, kidnapped at age 7. I have a movie made about it. It was the same story of another younger boy being taken, then Steven breaking his conditioning to rescue the 5 year old boy and take him to the police. He also did not know his real name. He eventually married a girl, had two children, and then committed suicide. The scars run so very deep.
Can Shawn ever, ever recover. Let us hope that human resilience and spirit will win.
I told you these stories to help you understand what is done to these kids. I used to feel really sick thinking about it. This is why I am an advocate for children. The things done to me and other kids should never happen, but they always will, and someone needs to be there for them to help them get past the pain and conditioning.
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That is also known as the Stockholm syndrome - Children do have a legal right to support from their parents and a court appointed guardian ad litem can represent the child in the suit - although it often gets dumped in the hands of CPS. Seattle has an ordinance prohibiting discrimination for gay preference. Some kids will eventually find the right lawyer to take up the charge and go after these parents. That type of abandonment has been a crime under English Common Law as well. I've also seen successful suits against WN CPS for failure to properly supervise placements, etc.
Take your case to the Washington State Bar Assn and ask for pro bono legal help - the UW and Gonzaga have these legal arms as well.
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Hi Walt,
Were you commenting on my reply to Manuela on this deviation? I mentioned Stockholm Syndrome in my comment to her. Bill O'Reilly knows all about it. He simply intentionally exploited this child's situation for his own purposes, which goes a long way to prove what low scum of the earth the man is.
Are you talking about youth suing parents to pay for their college education? If a child is abandoned or thrown out of their home because of their sexual orientation, they are not allowed to legally live on their own unless emancipated, which is very rare. They must be taken into custody by CPS, a fate seen as worse than death by many youth, especially if they are GLBTQ. Older kids are seldom placed in foster care and kids over seven years old are almost never adopted, so this usually means group homes, which can often be abusive in the eyes of the kids. It does little good to sue for financial support, if you are not legally allowed to even live on your own until age 18. Also, parents would have to have the financial means to support an independent child (apartments
For runaway youth, once a child has run, he or she is a criminal, and if caught, is immediately returned to the parents. The child can request protection from the parents, but children are typically not believed by authorities without obvious physical evidence, and even if they do, they cannot act without such evidence, and kids are forced back into a situation now even worse than before, often facing violence and more abuse for running away. The legal system tends to favor placing a child back with the parents, but under supposed supervision, which is a joke.
A child cannot typically sue for support unless he or she is being emancipated, which is seldom granted, as sufficient maturity and self-reliance must be shown. Otherwise a child who is not under the care of an adult is either placed back with biological parents, or placed into child custody with CPS, witch is often viewed at as a horrible fate.
Children have no idea what legal rights they have, since they are largely treated as property of their parents. By the time a child runs, he or she has little to no trust in any adult or of any authority figure, as well as sometimes hating anyone in authority. It can be very difficult to get a child off the street once they are there for long, because they mistrust authority of any kind, as they have already been betrayed multiple times.
The biggest problem with helping kid is the law itself, which makes it a felony to assist a child with shelter. A shelter is forbidden by law to accept a child drop-in, without parental permission, which is absurd. The law is not designed to help children, it is designed to ensure that parents do not lose their property. If a neighbor child who knows you, comes to your door and says his or her father or mother is drunk and violent, so can I stay the night until the parent is sober, if you say and shelter the child overnight, you have comitted a felony in what I believe would be all 50 states (Aiding and abetting a runaway). The law requires that you then either call or go to the parent for permission, or call the police and inform them of the situation.
Shelters have to turn kids away. In some communities, the legislation can make a special case for a specific program, like they are trying to do in Eastern Washington. But even in that program the child on only given 4 days as a drop-in before he or she must be processed by the State. Last I heard, the program is still not up and running, due to the severe budget cuts.
Seattle has a few very small youth shelters, like 6 beds each, but they only accept kids referred by CPS or with parental permission. They are not allowed to shelter drop-ins.
The way I see it, the law treats children more as property than as human beings.
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Matt, you raise too many issues to deal with here. Let me speak briefly to a couple of them anyway. Referring to children as property may ring a bell in a shorthand way. However it also, by definition, ignores any rights the children may have against their parents for abandonment and or physical and mental cruelty. It is the law in the state of Washington and has been for quite a number of years that if the police are called to a domestic violence situation and they find any evidence of a domestic assault, someone is going to jail that night. Most people think that law applies just to spouses. It does not. It applies to any and all residents in that household.
If you're curious as to what the child's rights are, look at almost any divorce decree that involves children and you'll see the parents obligations towards the child laid out by law. Absent a divorce, those support rights particularly concerning health, education and welfare, still attach. Finally, in extreme cases, the child has all the civil rights to sue in his own name for torts committed against him while he was a minor, once he turns 18.
The point I'm trying to make is not to dismiss a very real problem, but to point out that there are laws on the books and there have been for over 300 years that do protect the rights of the child.
Once again, I'm very strongly suggesting that your Board of Directors get together with the Washington State Bar Association and the law school pro bono programs. It's only through legal action and the enforcement of the laws as they currently exist for the situation to move towards a more acceptable resolution.
through legal action and the testimony input from your people, these covert social problems can be brought to light and a resolution or resolutions in the form of procedural and even statutory changes can be made.
Your best opportunity for a quicker and more comprehensive resolution lies in your smaller counties. In King County and Pierce County for example the numbers in almost every social situation that may involve government attention are so extremely overloaded that any creative changes must wait in line. This is not necessarily the case the smaller counties and if a functional resolution or program is developed and proven successful there, it's much easier to transfer it to a more urban environment.
Another person you definitely want to have on your resolution planning group would be your juvenile court judge. Having served in that position myself I can assure you that that is one person at least who will be willing to explore anything that sounds like it might work.
In conclusion, please change your paradigm: don't look at children as property, look at them rather as a responsibility.
Any resolution to this problem must start at the top. And legal help is going to be essential to work through this. I believe the resources are there and there are a number of people in the appropriate places that would be interested in participating in a task force to deal with this problem.
I wish you the greatest success putting such a task force together. The resources are there. As a former judge I know it. However it is up to younger people who live a lot closer than I do to make this happen.
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Hi Walt,
I realize that you come from more of an altruistic, purist and internal view of the law, but I have more of a street view of the law, and see the the injustice and corruption inherent in the system. I certainly do not see children as property, but in my experience, parents often do and the laws involving runaway children certainly treat children like property, or more like runaway slaves. The argument that it deters runaways is ridiculous since most kids have no idea it is against the law, until they are arrested and dragged back to their abusive home. Also, if police are called for a domestic dispute, there needs to be some form of physical evidence of violence or perhaps verbal abuse in their presence.
In most cases, you are looking at a general pattern of verbal and emotional abuse of children over a long period of time, which includes intimidation and fear and they are often too terrified to say anything to authorities, and when they do, chances are they will end up right back in the abuse. I have seen it again and again. Children lack the ability project future consequences and possibilities. I have suggest to kids that they keep a detailed log of each physical, verbal or emotional attack, with date and time, although even this is still the child's word against the parents. I suggest they document physical abuse with photographs and to try to audio record or videotape abuse. Of course a lawyer can probably get that evidence thrown out. But the first response I get is fear that the evidence they are collection will be found or discovered in the process, which could get them kill;ed or badly hurt (in their view).
Remember to think in terms of a child's perspectiveβchildren do not have adult brains, a mistake that the law makes repeatedly. The supreme court finally considered this when banning the juvenile death penalty in 2005, a 5-4 split of people some who insist on calling themselves human beings.
Kids are often very much afraid, brain washed into believing they have no rights, they do not trust police or child-services (there are a lot of horror stories they hear), and most of all, they often do not see very many options. Sometimes murder happens if they believe a parent will hunt them down even if they run, so the only option they see in to kill the parent(s). You will find that the statistics show that punishment for kids killing parents out of desperation, are much harsher than parents who kill kids for the same reason. I saw some article on it in a magazine.
The United States refuses to sign The International Human Rights Treaty. We are the only nation in the world to refuse to sign the section on THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, because we are the world's worst violator of one of its key provisions. Until 2005, with a 5 to 4 split in the Supreme Court, Juvenile Execution was still the law of the land. We are no longer in violation of that provision, but we are the worst violator, by far, of the provision forbidding giving juveniles Life Sentences with no chance of release. In fact, the United States is now the only nation doing this, and has many thousands in prison now. A recent court decision on very narrowly reduced this by saying the sentence can only be given to those involved in murder. But many of those kids are there for Felony murder.
I give you an example of a case where one 16 year old boy was selling another 16 year old boys a guy out of the trunk of a car. The gun was dropped, fired and killed one of the boys. The DA stipulated that it was an accidental death. HOWEVER, since selling and buying guns is a felony, unless you buy it through the ridiculously flimsy laws, it is a felony and thus it was felony murder and the surviving boy was given life in prison with no chance of releases. The International Court in the Hague and cited the United States repeatedly for sentencing kids this way. Personally, I feel that every single judge and prosecutor involved in any of these sentencing should be tried crimes against humanity and given the exact same sentence.
When counting how many people have been sentences this way, the justice department plays a game of not counting those who are now 18, but in prison with the sentence. This should be illegal, but of course it is not illegal for the justice department to cook its own books and deceive the public and the world about its crimes against humanity. Those currently under 18 and sentenced I believe is around the 8,000 mark. The sentence can be given to children as young as 11, and has been given a number of times to children 13 and 14.
The United States has a brutal way of dealing with children. It especially got bad when Staes took away the authority of Grand Juries to decide if a juvenile should be tried as an adult. Now the decision is a political one, decided by District Attorneys. You can have the exact same crime in two counties, where one gets life in prison, no chance of release, and the other goes home after a few years. We have a disgusting system that fails everyone. There is no middle ground. The worst of the worst might get almost no punishment or rehabilitation, while the victim of circumstance can end up with life in prison and no chance for release. This is call CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, except in the eyes of Judges. It is supposed to be unconstitutional.
It is a crime for lawyers and Judges to treat children as adults, when they do not have the brains of an adult. It is an atrocity against children.
When it comes to courts, attorneys and child rights, who is going to pay the attorneys? Teen Feed, has all it can do just to give kids one hot meal a day, and we only reached that goal in the last two years. There is almost no direct money going to any program for Street Kids. Americans simply don't care. The only public money going for Street Kids is generally through block grant applications. All of the rest of the money, the vast majority of the operating budget, comes from private donations. Unless you can convince some attorney with the right specialties to donate time, then there is no money for attorneys. Next, you need staff who have the time and knowledge to work with attorneys and courts, and most Street Kid organizations are on shoestring budgets with skeleton staff.
There are two national Street kid Organizations, Covenant House (Catholic Church), and StandUp for Kids, and they are stretched pretty thin. Most communities in the United States have no organized resources for Street Youth. There is simply not enough money. With the downturn of the exogamy, we have seen a big increase in child abandonment and runaways (worse money problems can lead to more violence in the home).
Politically, being tough with kids is what adults DEMAND of their politician, district Attorneys and elected judges, not helping Street Kids. Adults have told me that Street Kids are just lazy and don't like discipline, so they run away. It actually takes a lot for a child to run, and stay that way. In my experience, most American Adults have little sympathy for Street Youth, other than as pests to be gotten rid of from their street. You see the same lack of compassion in adults around the homeless issue. In my experience, a lot of adults see Street Kids as property that got away from their control. I was an adult when I broke away from my fatherβs control, and he refused to speak to me for a year.
If you remember, in Washington State, the voters who keep voting down money for social programs and even schools, turned around and voted 1.1 Billion dollars to built two brand new stadiums. We get no concessions and must pay for police overtime. It was a huge give-away to wealthy sports teams. Voters could care less about battered women, street youth, the homeless, but they sure cared a lot about their sports. Can you even imagine how much good could be done with over a billion dialers?
It shows how disgustingly greedy and selfish the American public is, and how little compassion they have. Even in a disaster, like the Asian Tsunami, people spoke about how generous American were, but it is a lie. People did not give any more than usual, they simply stopped giving to other charities, many of which did not survive that year.
You spoke of Divorce court and children's rights, yet those children often have zero say it what happens to them, because all of these adults supposedly know what is best for them. A child is still treated like property to be shared out in a divorce, and the children are often negotiating tools and bargaining chips, and worse, very often the kids are used as weapons between battling parents.
I had two foster children. A judge gave them back top a mother who had her children removed TWICE for neglect. Yet this judge felt she was now Ok? Why should she have any rights at all after neglecting them once, let alone twice? But the birth mother has such powerful OWNERSHIP rights that she can abuse her children and neglect them while she does drugs, loose them twice and get them back twice. Maybe the judge did not like the idea of the kids being placed with two faggots, or more likely, he did not five a damn about those kids. Both kids begged him to stay with us. They were finally laughing again and had hope. The boy is lost to society now, all from some Judge who did not care about the children.
To use the legal system to your advantage, to get your rights, takes a lot of money. Wealth owns the law in reality, as everyone else is too poor to afford the law.
Well, as you can see, I am very passionate about this issue. It comes from seeing the reality of life from the street. I know perfectly well that there are those in the legal system who do care, who are passionate about doing the best they can, but their contributions are obviously overwhelmed by the greedy, the power seekers, and the politicians in the legal system. It fails those who need it the most.
The organization I work with does not have enough people in it to form any kind of planning group. As a volunteer, I try to apply for grants and donations from people like Johnson & Johnson (who said no). All I was asking for was a donation of Purell, since it is often the only sanitation Street Kids have for days at a time. It seemed like a good fit. There are only two places Street kids can get food to eat in Seattle, and the other place makes you listen to a Christian sermon before eating. The staff is dedicated, overworked and way underpaid. They do it because they are passionate about it. They would love more staff, just to handle services for the kids, let alone raise more money, get more kids into apartments (over 18).
By the way, there is a huge number of 18 year old kids constantly flooding onto the streets because they AGE OUT of foster care, and many have not even completed high School when thrown out onto the street. Foster Care pays foster care parents up to their 18th birthday, when many throw the kids out and order new ones from CPS, who know those parents are doing it. These kids are emotionally distraught and completely without resources. They are not even able to leave with all of their things.
This is our government at work. The Foster Care system is a nightmare in itself, but to allow this to happen to youth is monstrous and inhumane. Americans are too greedy and selfish to care for kids, but don't get in the way of their new sports stadiums. Washingtonians should be ashamed, but they sleep very well, go to church, and claim to be righteous.
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Matt I don't disagree with your observations in the least.
Pro bono publico however means for the benefit of the public. It translates to free services.
I've given you a plan to start working on how to resolve the problem for all the kids, not just one at a time.
You won't need any money to visit with a pro bono lawyer. You also won't need any money to get the assistance of the juvenile court judges to put together a plan to resolve this. What you will need is a few people in your organization carry the ball forward, meet with these people, organize a group dedicated to fixing these problems.
Do as you wish. I can't do anything further from down here.
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Hi, i realize that you are largely in agreement with me. I get passionate about the plight of Street Kids and can easily vent on the subject. The thing to keep in mind is that these organizations to help Street Kids are tiny operations, local, without a budget or expertise to work with Attorney's, look for ones to do Pro Bono cases, or even to do this level of legal intervention for a youth. They do not even have manpower to raise more money.
Volunteers and Staff usually only see the youth at supper time, mostly while they are eating (this is the only meal served per day), and none are allowed to stay the night. Staff try to engage and build trust, offer basic services, offer needed supplies like clean underwear, socks, toiletries, backpacks, etc. For those over 18, we try to get some into cheap apartments, based on how much money comes in. It takes a lot of work just to establish some kind of trusting connection, to be able to give basic services.
The vast majority of the budget comes from Donations, with the rest from block grants, which have been getting harder to get.
There are only two organization I know of which are more on a National Scale, but still limited to just the largest cities. They are stretched very thin and focus on basic services.
This is one well established program called GLBTG HOST HOME PROJECT [link] in Minneapolis, MN (part of AVENUES FOR HOMELESS YOUTH PROGRAM), which is being used to seed similar programs in other cities very soon. This is a program that allows a Youth or young adult to spend up to 9 months in another person's home, providing a Safe and Stable environment to help him or her get on their feet. HOWEVER, the huge limiter is that anyone under 18 must have parental permission, which disqualifies the vast majority of under 18 street youth.
A couple of seed programs have already started, like one in Chicago. However, the number of youth in the established program is very small and it is not easy to get in. Both the youth and the volunteer Host must be vetted, background checks, classes, etc.
Chicago LGBTQ HOST HOME PROGRAM: [link]
Otherwise we face the same problem all across the united States where under 18 street youth are not permitted to be sheltered by anyone except CPS programs or court permission.
The American legal System is one that treats Street Youth as runaway slaves, since it is a crime for a child to run from abuse at home. Caught, they are put in jail until a parent collects them and forces them right back into an often toxic and hostile environment, only now will retaliation, punishment and retribution. A chronic runaway is sent to long-term prison sentences as a habitual criminal. A child has to be able to convince authorities that he or she is in a hostile or toxic environment, and parents often paint the child as uncontrollable and more a threat to the parents. It comes down to the word of a child over the word of a much more powerful parent or parents. Add into that great fear of the parent, fear of retribution, etc,and a child is most likely to run, not seek help.
For proof of the vast failure of Child Protective Services, the Law, and juvenile justice, look at the vast number of street children in the United States, in comparison to Western Europe. American systems treat children brutally as far as I am concerned.
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Of course we agree on the needs. we also agree the present system needs fixing. It needs to be done at the local level AND the legal one. The local groups need to speak up to the legislatures and the courts on behalf of the children who can't speak for themselves. The present laws have their genesis in laws to protect the children from the ravages they suffered under corporate greed circa 1920s, with child labor laws followed by mandatory education statutes. Compared to those kids, the ones today are far better off, but far from perfect. The protection of the nuclear family of often 3 generations has crumbled along with the moral checks and balances. These times have changed dramatically and the laws must change to reflect the need. Only the readers here have the power to set in motion the needed momentum. What will you do, dear reader?
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My God, Matt...I feel sick too reading your words. Does having a soul mean that human beings are much worse than the worst animals? As I told you, I feel that mankind is loosing humanity and my hopes and faith are getting weaker and weaker as time goes by. Your help to children is precious and gives sense and a deep meaning to your life and your sufferings. I admire you so much, Matt!
Love
Manuela
p.s. I have my own pc and I also have a password. So I'm the only one who can use it. You can write whatever you want.
It would be wonderful if you and Greg could come to Europe. I don't know how you have been lately, but I suppose such a trip would be very hard for you! You're the only one who can decide whether making it or not. I wish you could come!
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H Manuela,
This comment from you in February of 2010, just popped up as unanswered. I hope you are doing well and enjoying life. Alas, I am less able to travel now than I was back in 2010.
Happy New Year my friend.
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Hi Matt!
Quite a lot of time went by since my message to you, and many things happened...not pleasant things unfortunately.
But I'm not going to annoy you...even if my life is not a happy one, I don't want to complain because I'm fully aware that it could suddenly get much worse than it is now.
I know that your life is very hard to live, and your painful illness is always there with you. I wish I could do something for you, but unfortunately I can't do anything better than sending you my thoughts and my affection.
Stay strong, Matt!
Manuela
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Hi Manuela,
Sorry it took so long to answer. After Christmas and New year is went I get the very most number of notes and comments.. It is overwhelming.
I am sorry to hear that things have not gone well for you. Perhaps this will be a temporary setback. I understand that the economy in Italy is difficult now. I have been hurt by the recession the United States, losing about two-thirds of my income over the last 3 years. I keep hoping it will bounce back up.
You and I are survivors and we are strong.
Matthew
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Yes Matt, we are strong, we really are, but my heart is full of rage because our society and our economic system are corrupt, rotten, unfair, and I feel powerless...honest people seem to be powerless.
I don't know what's going to happen in the next months and years, but I think we are on the edge of an abyss as the most important ethical values are being trampled on in the name of money and power. I'm really pissed off!
Hope I'm wrong...
Manuela
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I seem to remember talking to you about my low opinion of humanity and how little faith I had in humanity, but you were much more positive about humanity. I think that the reality is that a minority of human beings are truly good people to the core. Many other people pretend to be good and even act good on the surface, yet when they vote, they vote out of GREEd and self-interest.
Those men and women in Power, who abuse power, are also repeatedly placed into the power and kept in that power by the majority of citizens, who are corrupt themselves, OR don't care, OR are too lazy to think about the issues and people they are voting for. It is like this in America. The majority of Americans are very greedy and selfish. The people who call themselves goo Christians are actually the cruelest people of all, and they are the same people who are 100% for gun rights and ownership. A survey showed that 72% of Catholic Americans and 65% of Protestant Americans Agree with Torturing human beings. Over half of all Americans keep voting down money for the homeless, street kids and other social programs. They talk about being generous, but actually give very little. The greater majority of American were bloodthirsty for war.
In our own lives, we can find individual people are seem to be very special and good people, but they do not seem to be very common. In America, you fear to actually help anyone, because they might sue you in court for helping too little or too much. Everyone seems out to get the most out of everyone else.
My Health Insurance just decided to stop paying for my catheters, which I need to stay alive. They payed for years and now suddenly say they believe they don't have to. I am fighting it, but usually they win. The law always seems to favor the big business and powerful people.
The President of the United States just signed a law allowing the president to arrest any American citizen and hold that person forever, without trial, if suspected of terrorism. It barely made the news, and nobody seems to care.
Americans are amongst the worst abusers of Human rights on planet earth, especially against children. Children are treated as property. We are the only nation giving many thousands of young children, as young as 11 years old, prison for life, with zero chance of release, ever.
The Italian people do not seem to care how corrupt its leaders are and keep voting for them anyway. Politicians promise the impossible, again and again, break those promises, and people keep voting for them.
Our past President Abraham Lincoln once said, (I paraphrase) "In a Democracy, the majority of the people get exactly what they deserve." Unfortunately, the minority of the people do NOT get what they deserve, because they are slaves to the majority.
What I am saying is that you cannot blame the Italian Politicians. You must blame the Italian people who keep putting those leaders in power, and who kept supporting their corrupt ways. Greedy and selfish people demand the impossible and are easily manipulated by politicians. In America, all you have to do is hate homosexuals to get elected. They tap into the bigotry and hatred of supposedly "good" people, and do it in the name of God.
Most people believe the END always justifies the MEANS. It is Ok to TORTURE human beings, as long as we win the war. It is Ok to cheat the poor, as long as the rich pay less taxes. It is Ok for my President to steal public money and be immoral, as long as he keeps giving me what I want.
You can be enraged, depressed, unhappy...but will it change anything at all? Maybe it could if enough people got Angry and decided to protest in mass and take over. But if you are truly helpless, then letting your emotional life be destroyed is for nothing, it is useless.
I was angry when an ass-kisser and back-stabber got promoted before I did. But then I had to realize that I am not the kind of person who can kiss-ass or back-stab, and world runs on that. It is useless for me to be miserable. I should be happy for being who I am. I became very angry for being sick and having my body fail and losing my life, for dying. I can either be miserable for the little life I have left, or I can make the very most of what time I have.
CONCLUSION:
If you are angry, either direct that anger with action to change what is wrong, or let it go and get the most enjoyment out of life as you can, no matter how lousy the circumstances of your life are.
I hope it all works out oK, or the entire world will suffer.
Matthew
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Oh Matt...You are an American citizen, but you are also so mcuh different from most Americans! You are an outstanding person, and I wish there were many more people like you in the world! Your intelligence, your culture, your sensitiveness and wiseness are precious and amazing and I'm proud to have you among my friends. Too bad we can be only virtual friends!
I also wish I could speak a better English to fully express my thoughts and my feelings...What I can say right now in few words is that I totally agree with you and share the same fears and the same hope about our future.
Your "conclusion" is also a very wise one, even if it is not so easy to put it into practice. I am trying and will keep on trying hard to do it.
Much love, dear Matt
Manuela
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Hi Manuela,
Thank you for the kind words.
One day at a time, OK?
When I am not overwhelmed with Notes and comments, maybe we will have time to catch up with what is going on in our lives.
Love & Kisses,
matthew
PS, send me back something so it will sit in my inbox...a reminder.
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They're not just kind words...I think they're true words!
One day at a time...in order not to be scared and overwhelmed by all the problems, sufferings, troubles we daily have to deal with, in order to keep on hoping for the better despite human stupidity, dishonesty, selfishness.
Love and kisses back at you, dearest Matthew
Manuela
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