In the News
November 15, 2013
Shortly after her 16th birthday, Cheryl’s parents told her she had to move out of their house because her temper tantrums and physical confrontations were too much for them to handle.
They told their daughter it was “tough love.”
At the time, Cheryl (her last name is withheld because of privacy concerns) was smoking marijuana daily — and she confesses to occasionally indulging in other drugs as as well — and fell in with the “wrong crowd.”
Turned out onto the street, she moved into a friend’s parents’ home for a little while.
From there, she found her way into the Kingston Youth Shelter and eventually into Home Base Housing’s Passage House.
Eventually, she reconciled with her parents — who, she said, never stopped supporting her despite their often-volatile relationship — and moved back home. She went back to school and now works in the health-care field.
She wanted to give back to Home Base Housing, so she organized a fundraiser and spent the $300 in donations on hygiene products, something she knows is in short supply for those who are homeless.
Cheryl shared her story with the young people gathered at the inaugural youth homelessness forum held in Memorial Hall Thursday.
Kingston is one of two mid-sized communities — the other being Kamloops, B.C. — asked to take part in a national pilot project aimed at finding ways to eradicate homelessness among youths.
The United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington is leading the project.
It’s believed that 27% of the homeless people in Kingston are youths aged 15 to 24.
Often, it’s not just a matter of a child reconciling with their parents as was the case with Cheryl. Sometimes, young people just find themselves living on their own due to circumstances they can’t control.
“What we found with youth who are homeless, the vulnerability is scary because they have no idea where to go,” explained Bhavana Varma, United Way KFL&A’s president and chief executive.
“They have never been alone, they’re afraid to talk. Some of them are kids who have maybe been bullied in the past, or had behavioural issues in the past. They’re really lost.”
One of the reasons Kingston was selected for the project, Varma feels, is that homelessness has become a focal point of the municipality. But homelessness among youth is different, she said, and requires a unique strategy.
“What we also recognize is that the reason youth get into homelessness is so different from the reasons adults get into homelessness,” she said, “so we can’t expect the same plan will work for anyone.”
One of the organizers of the event and a member of its steering committee, Brittney (whose surname is also being withheld), found herself homeless at age 17 after a falling out with her father and stepmother.
“When I moved out, I had no idea where to go,” she said.
Like Cheryl, Brittney moved into Home Base Housing’s Passage House.
She switched high schools and has since tried a variety of jobs, but she encountered setbacks along the way. She moved back into Home Base Housing in February.
Unlike Cheryl, she still hasn’t reconciled with her parents.
“One of the solutions we need to get from the youth in the forum is how to get parents educated about these issues because of parents … who refuse to admit homelessness and youth issues do exist,” said Brittney. “It’s hard.”
Brittney, now a board member (and its youngest ever) of Home Base Housing, hopes to go back to school and get into public relations.
For now, though, she is focusing on the task at hand.
“It has been a lot of work,” she said.
Cheryl, meanwhile, listened in at some of the group discussions held Thursday and was impressed with what she heard. The groups tackled five different topics: family conflict; mental health; addictions; employment and training; and education.
“There are some kids who are very outspoken and are coming up with great ideas,” she noted.
“I wish I would have had this when I was younger. I would have liked to attend these things when I was young so that I could give my input.”
The young people who took part in the forum were randomly picked by the two school boards, the United Way’s Varma said, to offer a “diverse voice.”
“We’re going to take this away, hear what they said, see what some of the solutions are, see how practical they are, what we can do about it,” she said.
“We’ll also look at other communities to see what have they done differently that could maybe match up with this, and that’s where the learning from the other communities is going to come in.”
Another forum will take place in the spring, and that one will involve business leaders, city politicians and service providers, among others.
She, too, was impressed with the youths’ initiative thus far.
“They really want to change the world,” she said, “and we’re here to help them to do that.”
Source: By Peter Hendra, Kingston Whig-Standard
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