Children in and of the Streets

The nature of homelessness in the United States was transformed dramatically in the 1980s. Once dominated by older, largely white, broken-down, alcohol-abusive men, today's homeless population contains a sizable fraction of women and children.1,2Indeed, women, children, and youth now comprise perhaps three eighths of the total.3What are the effects of homelessness on the health and well-being of children? How do these effects compare with those of simply being poor? What are the likely long-term consequences of these effects on the ability of homeless children to mature normally and to achieve productive, independent adult lives? Scholars have been researching these and a range of related questions for the past 10 years, and the results are not encouraging. That homelessness and extreme destitution exist at all in a society so affluent as ours is shocking. That increasing numbers of the homeless are women, children, and youth—groups that society has