You may not see children living under bridges or overpasses, but child homelessness is a very real problem in America.

A recent article by CNN exposes the severity of the situation: According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 1.5 million children in America face homelessness each year.  That’s 1 in every 50 American children.

Homelessness is defined as lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.  For a homeless child, this may mean living in a car, a shelter, a motel or constantly “couch-surfing” between the homes of friends and family. Not having safe, dependable and permanent housing is traumatic for a child and can seriously disrupt a child’s ability to learn and attend school.

Last year, Feed The Children distributed 100,000 backpacks filled with school supplies, books, ready-to-eat food, and personal hygiene items to homeless children in America.  These supplies meet immediate needs and help remove the stigma of homelessness by guaranteeing that homeless students have the same resources as their peers. 

The school year is coming to a close, but homelessness continues for far too many American children.  To learn more about Feed The Children’s efforts to help homeless children in America, click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.