Faces of Homelessness
At its most elemental, homelessness is about inadequate housing, insufficient income, and a lack of appropriate social supports. For many of the children who come to TerraShare, homelessness entails a life of extreme poverty, frequent bouts of hunger, greater risk of illness or injury, and the ever-present threat of violence in their homes, neighborhoods and schools.
For the children who come to TerraShare it means lying to their friends about their personal circumstances, living in a car, shack or shelter; it means not having enough money to play sports or purchase hygiene supplies. Sometimes it means that the child manages the family, while the parent succumbs to the demands of their stressful life. It means that many of the children of TerraShare know too much about drug and alcohol addiction, prison time, sex. Many have been in foster care, many have been abused – sexually, physically and emotionally. Read more