That’s the title of a one-hour special running Wednesday, August 13th. It’s a documentary about the 1.3 million homeless children in America. There are many ways to become homeless—-loss of job, a medical emergency, foreclosure, domestic violence, bad luck, bad decisions, bad habits. Most homeless children are the victims of their parents’ circumstances. Others are runaways, escapees from violence or sexual abuse in the home. Still others are throw-aways, kids who are thrown out of their homes because they’re gay or somehow don’t measure up to parents’ standards. Our program includes may heartbreaking stories and some amazing tales of what children have to do to survive on the street. Fortunately, we also have a couple of success stories—a pair of onetime homeless 12-year-olds who fell about as low as one can go, but who are now thriving as young adults.
The Invisible—-Children Without Homes was produced by Ariana Pekary, who worked on it for many, many hours of her personal time late at night and on weekends. I am in her debt—-and you will be too when you hear our program.
-Bob
Thank you Bob and Ariana for writing and producing this
documentary. I work with children in the public school system in the Denver Metro area and finding the impact of the homeless to be a growning problem. I’ve had to teach children who live out of their cars (and sometimes they are the lucky ones). It’s heartbreaking and very difficult to teach children who show up in your classroom and are crying because of some medical or dental pain and cannot seek medical attention for lack of health insurance. Many parents will wait until
the condition is dire before they will go to an emergency room for care. Medical care and education are so important for their survival.Kathy White
I’ve been listening to your documentary on the homeless and their children and I can readily qualify some of the experiences that the children have been talking about. I am a licensed counselor working in toledo, ohio and I work regularly with children in the Juvenile detention center here. I hear often the experience of displaced children who have been abused by one or more family members, however, it is the children who are identified by authorities as the problem rather than the abusive adult in the family. I also have talked to many run-aways and youth who have turned to prostitution. And also youth who have scholarships to good schools, but due to chaos, cannot attend or find a stable environment to study. It was good to hear your program on this subject. I found it insightful and inpiring.