On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 15:45:15 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

On 2/21/2016 3:30 PM, philo wrote:
On 02/21/2016 04:03 PM, Don Y wrote:

How do you address the needs of the *community* -- I'm sure many
folks wouldn't be keen on a "shanty-town" popping up in their
neighborhood *park*! Especially anticipating how it will "run
down" over time, the sorts of people it is likely to attract,
etc.

"Sorry, I don't think I can contribute anything to your project"

Yet another example of people thinking the problem is a lot
simpler than it REALLY IS!

But an excellent point was raised.

If someone was homeless wouldn't the first concern be finding a place for them
to live...and food?

As I said, there are many ways to get them shelter: a relative
(grandparents being a big factor), another social service, a
state agency, etc.

But, after housing them, all you've got is a child who's dry when
it rains -- but still has no support to continue on his/her
"growth". He's sitting in class next to Bobby whose surfing the
web with his iPhone6. And, Betsy who's wearing the latest teen
fashion. And, Bobby and Betsy don't even CONSIDER the possibility
that they won't have a place to sleep tomorrow night or next week.
And, Bobby and Betsy have someone expressing *some* interest in
their well-being, ensuring they get dental and medical care,
schlepping them around town for whatever activities they deem
important, etc.

What do you say about the child of a child, who is kicked out of her
"home" because she's inconvenient at age 15? (mother moving on to a
new relationship). Her grandparents are out of the picture - in some
cases for the best -her birth grandmother milking welfare, her
grandfather committed suicide when his second marriage was going down
the tube, and the step-grandfather wanting nothing to do with the
child or her mother (stepdaughter).

Great-aunt steps in and offers her not only a place to sleep, but a
home.. Mother would rather have her on the street.
The teanager is in a mess - abuse issues, abandonment - into
recreational drugs --- the whole gammit.

How do you get the kid to go back to school and live up to the simple
rules - be home at a decent time and be respectfull - and to show up
for counselling appointments - all the costs above and beyond the
social network covered by great aunt and great uncles -??

What do you do in such a situation????

It can all be traced back to her grandfather making a bad relationship
decision - thinking with the "wrong head", then compounding that
mistake on the second marriage.

The 2 girls from the first marriage fall into the "cinderella"
situation - and bounce back and forth between the birth mother and the
father/stepmother - both ending up on the streets along with their
half-brother for periods of time - the youngest getting pregnant at 14
or 15 - resulting in the birth of this poor gal. Father is not in the
picture, grandparents not terribly interested - the kid and her kid
are "inconvenient". After a number of years the young mother gets into
a "stable relationship" which progresses to marriage - and the
revelation of sexual interference with the now teanaged daughter -
resulting in divorce and total family breakdown - and at the same
time the breakdown of the grandparents marriage and suicide death of
the grandfather who had just started to become a positive influence in
the youngster's life. - and she gets put out on the street.

What do you do in such a situation?

What solutions are there for situations like this?????
3 short generations from a "good family" and stability, to almost
total disaster....
Instead, they wonder when some program is going to lose its
funding and drop them out on the street ("Sorry, Bobby, our
funding doesn't cover you now that you are 17"). Or, if that
ache in the side of his mouth will go away by itself. Or,
whether he should buy toothpaste or dinner with the $3 he's
got in his pocket.

And what about the ones that "chose" to live on the street when all
their requirements are being made available to them -

And, you want him to drag his *ss to the local public library to
use the public computers to do his homework assignment? Waiting
for the bus to take him there. Making sure he finishes in time
for the ride back home. Stopping to pick up that tube of
toothpaste along the way (and catching yet another bus to
finish the trip), etc.

How to create a spread sheet would seem to be of tertiary importance.

Except it is a way out of the long-term situation, if they take
advantage of it.

Until he gets too old to attend school "on the public dole"
and discovers that the only jobs he's qualified for are that
of landscaper or pool cleaner. And then tries to get his GED
(now with NO support) to better avail himself of those other jobs.

These problems are rarely simple. Addressing one aspect is pretty much
like curing the cancer but the patient dies in the process!