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Subscribe to RSSOne in every 50 American children goes to sleep without a home of their own each year, according to figures cited by Homeless Children America.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Jayla waits for her School on Wheels tutor to arrive at the shelter where she lives in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 16. School on Wheels uses volunteers to tutor homeless children in shelters, parks, motels, and two centers. There has been a surge in the number of homeless children in Los Angeles in the last five years, due to persistent unemployment and mounting foreclosures.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Sisters Jamie, 9, left, and Jamella, 8, do their homework at South Los Angeles Learning Center in Los Angeles on March 16. The center is run by School on Wheels, which uses volunteers to tutor homeless children in shelters, parks, motels, and two centers.
The situation is particularly acute in Los Angeles, where nearly 13,500 students were identified as homeless in the 2009-10 school year, the LA Times reported.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Regional coordinator Charles Evans, 4th left, picks up children from school to take them to an after-school program at South Los Angeles Learning Center on March 16.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Nicole, 9, left, studies with regional coordinator Charles Evans at South Los Angeles Learning Center on March 16.
Reuters photographer Lucy Nicholson visited the South Los Angeles Learning Center, which provides homeless students with a place to go after school until their shelter opens for the night. The afterschool program is run by School on Wheels, a non-profit organization which also has volunteer tutors operating in shelters, parks, libraries and motels.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
James, 10, calls for a tutor at South Los Angeles Learning Center on March 16.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Regional coordinator Charles Evans, center, picks up children from school to take them to an after-school program at South Los Angeles Learning Center on March 16.
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I am a tutor and volunteer for a literacy organization where I live. I do it because the children falling behind their peers will suffer short brutish lives if they are eventually dorpped from the education system. Many are dropped.
The primary problem is the poverty caused by the poor continuing to have children without knowing how to raise them. The first five years of a child's life is when brain development is most important. To be blunt, children of poverty do not get the stimulation needed to develop their brains. I don't have a solution except to volunteer and help a few of these children. I get them when they are 7 or 8 years old. It may be too late by then.
Every male child born in poverty is going to probably spend time in jail. This is why I volunteer. Most americans just don't care. I wish there was a solution but it would cost money and we are too interested in ourselves to worry about the human cost and the cost of the prisons. I am most aware of the pain, mental and physical these people are forced by an uncaring country to endure.
Every Male Child born into poverty will spend time in jail? And poor people just don't know how to raise them? Those are some pretty broad generalizations! I am not denying that growing up in poverty has an impact. But that was a little harsh. Most poor people care greatly for their children they are lacking in resources. I am glad that you are trying to help.
What saddens and frustrates me almost daily is the fact that it is so incredibly difficult and expensive to adopt a child (ethnicity or race is completely unimportant to us). My husband and I have 2 great kids, good careers with decent incomes, a large home in a great school district, and abundant love...we just don't have $30,000 to spare so we can pay someone to find a child to whom we can give all of this!!! If there are so many kids who need a home and love, WHY is it so costly and red tape filled??? While I can understand a thorough filtering process and background checks, but why does it have to cost us so much to provide a home to a child who needs one--it will cost us the same for this child as our very own over the course of their lifetime anyway...? Can someone explain the reasoning?
Me and my mother have room for a child in our house and will offer security and love, send one of them to us!!!!!
I am currently involved with my local CASA in my community,CASA helps a child who has been removed from their family due to neglect or abuse .I feel for these children and would like to ask everyone to get involved by volunteering.I work a 8-5 job and still have time to train and learn our county's policies to help these children .PAY IT FORWARD........God bless those who are helping these children these are our children
I don't believe all of us are more interested in ourselves...my husband and I would love to adopt a child who desperately needs a home--we have 2 great kids of our own so far, good careers with decent incomes, a big home in a great school district and an abundance of love...we just don't have a spare $30,000 to pay to get a child--and we're not limiting ourselves to a baby, and race/ethnicity matter not! Why is it so that it is this difficult, lengthy and expsnsive? It shouldn't cost us that kind of money, time and hassle to give a child who so desperately needs it, the love and security they deserve! We're willing to take onj the responsibility for that child's life...why aren't background checks and thorough screening enough???
I'm donating to school on wheels...who's in?