22/11/2013 17:47
U.S. homeless schoolkids at historic high
The National Center for Homeless Education reports the number of American schoolchildren who are homeless has hit a record high, according to Voice of Russia.
More than 1.1 million kids in pre-school to 12th grade don't have a permanent home to go back to when the school day ends. While that figure is staggering in its own right, the NCHE also notes that it represents a 72% increase from just five years ago.
Obviously the huge jump in homeless school children since 2007 is attributable to the economic collapse. Children become homeless when their parents do. With more parents out of work, the children feel the consequences.
Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, an organization that provides food to those who can't afford it, says the banks and the government are responsible for the economic downturn.
"This was actually in part planned between the banks and the government knowing that this would end up happening. Why they would want to do that is really kind of astounding. Why would our own government want to collude with the banks to do something of this devastating of a nature?"
And because of that devastation, McHenry says, ever more American children are falling behind. They don't have adequate resources- neither physical nor emotional. Homeless students too easily fall behind their peers because there just isn't enough support at home.
McHenry says the key to saving homeless children is to get parents back to work.