You don’t care about the homeless because you can’t relate.
You think it is a problem that is taken care of, and you may even believe homelessness
is a situation people have put themselves into.
If you have
or know anyone with a brother or sister, cousins, or children then this relates
to you. Take that child and
imagine placing them in front of two adults beating each other. See that child
crying helplessly; see them with no-one to hold their hand or to tell them that
everything will be alright. See them in the middle of the night, not tucked
into bed, but awake and alone.
Ask yourself, would you stand by and leave
that child defenceless or would you get someone to help them.
84,000
children needed homeless support last year
60% of
homeless children faced domestic violence
2 out of 3
homeless children who need immediate care are turned away
Ask yourself, if an 8 year old child is on
the street is it really their fault.
12% of all
homeless people are under the age of 12.
33% of all
homeless people in Australia are under age 18.
Ask yourself, how a child without a home
can have the chance to learn like the children you know.
Homeless
children may move schools five times in a year.
Two thirds
will leave school within 12 months.
Ask yourself, how this is happening to
children in a developed country like Australia and face the facts:
The problem
isn’t fixed. The problem won’t be fixed if you and everyone else continue to think
it is.
There are
children who haven’t got a chance without your help.
84,000 homeless children
= 84,000 children with inhibited physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioural
development. Those 84,000 children grow up to be 84,000 young adults and we
expect them to follow normal lives like you and me because we haven’t paid
attention to the childhood they never had. Children have not gained sufficient
life skills, legal responsibility or money to secure a home for themselves.
It’s time to put an end to children without homes. It’s time that we
looked beyond our own fences and put aside a little time each week to consider
what we can do to help the innocent. This is not melodramatic; this is reality
that cannot be ignored.
There isn’t enough resources to cater for every child facing
homelessness. More funding is needed to support the organisations that are
grappling with child homelessness every day.
Next time you go to the shop to spend a few dollars on a treat stop and
ask yourself, is it money well spent or is it money that could be spent on a
child that has nothing.
Put your hand up for an end to homelessness and buy with Homefulness©.
LQ
LQ
Such a well written piece. The reality of those statistics is heart breaking.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the problem is too many people don't know about the real statistics and there are those people who hear about it, stop to think that it is sad but then never do more to appease the situation. Through our 'shop-front' sales of tickets to help the homeless we hope to make people more aware about those affected by homelessness. What do you think it would take for you to do more than just think about how heart breaking the statistics are and really contribute to making a difference?
ReplyDeleteYes, the problem here is definitely the lack of awareness within our society. We know that there are people who are homeless, but we’re not aware of just how many are homeless! This number is staggering, but we're just not aware of it. We know how many people die from Cancer each year, and how many people suffer from malnutrition, because these issues are constantly in the media and we are exposed. The issue of homelessness has taken backseat and is forgotten. Exposure to this issue and awareness is necessary, but it's not enough, society needs to be educated on the consequences of homelessness and how it is affecting those on the streets, it is this type of insight that may be what is needed for people to take further action.
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