I just saw this statistic: 39% of people living on the street are under 18 years

I lived in the street at one point during my childhood, after having been abandoned by my mother who moved away without even telling me. I finally wound up living with another relative again later, but I did spend some time on the street before that happened. I think a lot of what helps is supporting shelters, but also having people actually go out and find these kids and find out their situations. I know a lot of kids who say that adults who see them ignore them, or even threaten them. They feel like there isn't anyone who can be trusted, if they've been abused and abandoned in the past. It's a hard thing to get convince kids like this that there is help available, especially if they were abused in the foster care system before. Also an issue is the fear of being sent back to an abusive family member, which is what happened to me. No matter how many times I reported the abuse, I always wound up back in the custody of family members who abused me, and so when I was homeless I was afraid to even ask for help, for fear of winding up there. I think really the most we can do is actually pay attention, offer aid in ways that it can be accepted, and tighten laws against child abusers and abandonment. If we stop giving kids back to people who abuse them, then we'd have far fewer runaways, which is a large part of the problem.

Wow. That's something that I didn't expect. I think that if someone didn't want to keep their child, they should have the decency to make sure they have a foster home or something like that. Some people are just plain selfish and it's appauling.

I do think that more indivual groups can be formed to help this children and government should spent some money in child care instead of develop arms and weapons

I just don't know what is that parent who tell 12 years old kid You are not coming back home. That parent is just for killing. You can't leave 12 years old kid on the street.

oh my such a big number, i cant believe it, how can so many parents do this to their children. theres a large % in australia like that to, im not sure what it is, mainly in bigger towns like sydney etc. im not sure what can be done to help them

Hello,littlefranciscan,I am surprised to see this figure,I cannot imagine it happens in the US,if there are so many homeless kids on the streets,problems arise if they meet some bad people and may be involved in some illegal activities. It is important to know the real reasons why there are so many children on the street,if they choose to go away from home because their parents abuse them,there should be shelters for them to stay and further councelling service should be done then.

Well that is something I wouldn't have thought would exist. Well what can I say? It's sad. What did a 10-year-old girl do the father that the sick man said she ain't coming home again.

I think this is one thing we tend to not pay attention to. There is homelessness in every city and we don't have a clue to how big of a problem it is. It is just a way of life...we know they are out there and we see them once in awhile, but we live in our own lives and it doesn't touch us. We assume there are "organizations" out there to take care of the problem. Easy ways to help would be giving time or donations to the organizations that helping the homeless.

well its easier to be homeless when youre young because things are always changing and you dont have your own home and some dont have the luck to have a nice family or relations its difficult to know what to do as homeless shelters arent really great or childrens centres and most kids wouldnt want to go to a foster home. finding a kind of a commune where everyone lives as a family or house would be a nice idea as the social services usually doesnt mean something good i know in us there are some houses like that but usually kidz make friends and can live in squats or abandoned houses which they take over and live ok in

Hi there, I think its bad that there are that many at that age living on the streets not sure what can be done about this its a cruel world out there.