Overheard at a Diner

As I sat working late at night at a diner, appreciating the bottomless pot of coffee (ah, the things that people with small children are driven to do to get things done!), my train of thought was derailed when a boisterous young crew was seated at a table near mine. Obviously intoxicated, they didn't seem to care who overheard their loud conversation, and their risqué humor and foul language was rather distracting to the theological essay I was attempting to edit. Midway through their meal, one of the young ladies had to rush to the bathroom to throw up.

I was not trying to eavesdrop (in fact, I was trying not to) but I couldn't help overhearing snatches about partying and sexual exploits. But suddenly my attention was riveted when one of them mentioned her toddler daughter. Then another interjected a story about his son—including references to discipline that made me cringe. The casual way in which their children entered the conversation, jumbled together with the off-color comments and general sense of self-absorbed aimlessness, struck me as both pitiable and alarming. As childish young adults, they aroused my compassion; as childish parents, my anger.

I don't know whether they were technically poor, in terms of income. But there are other kinds of poverty. If my snap judgment was correct (I do admit to being judgmental), they looked like poor parents – in the sense of lacking sufficient resources (emotional, relational, informational, social, spiritual) to be able to provide for their children an adequate standard of life. I don't doubt that they love their children, but their expression of that love appears sadly deficient. Their children (again, in my snap judgment) are not necessarily abused or neglected, but they are likely to grow up stunted.

And like income poverty, perhaps one reason this group of young parents lack these resources is because they also grew up without them. Perhaps their parents also were too young, too unstable, too insecure and immature to be able to lay a strong foundation for healthy development in mind, body, soul and spirit. And their children? Will my daughter overhear a similar conversation from the next generation of emotionally impoverished and unprepared parents someday? Or will others step in to "share good news with the poor"?

Child Homelessness

"It is virtually impossible to reclaim the life of a child who has spent his childhood without a home."

I don't know if that is true. In fact, there are ministries all around the country investing in homeless children and their families precisely because they take it as a matter of faith that reclaiming these lives is not only possible but mandated. Or perhaps, if this is really is an impossible task, that we are called to work miracles.

If so, the demand for miracles is growing. According to America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child Homelessness, a report from the National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH), more than 1.5 million children become homeless each year. This means that one out of every 50 children and their families have gone to sleep in a shelter, a car, an abandoned building, or on the streets.

The executive summary describes the implications of this statistic:

These children also endure a lack of safety, comfort, privacy, reassuring routines, adequate health care, uninterrupted schooling, sustaining relationships, and a sense of community. These factors combine to create a life-altering experience that inflicts profound and lasting scars.

Children without homes are twice as likely to experience hunger as other children. Two-thirds worry they won’t have enough to eat. More than one-third of homeless children report being forced to skip meals. Homelessness makes children sick. Children who experience homelessness are more than twice as likely as middle class children to have moderate to severe acute and chronic health problems. Homeless children are twice as likely as other children to repeat a grade in school, to be expelled or suspended, or to drop out of high school. At the end of high school, few homeless students are proficient in reading and math – and their estimated graduation rate is below 25%.

Child homelessness has been relatively concentrated – with 11 states contributing three-quarters of all homeless children. (Find out how your state ranks on the interactive map at http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org.) With the rash of foreclosures and general economic downturn, homelessness is expected to grow both more prevalent and more widespread. (How many foreclosures have there been in your state since the start of this year? Find out at the Center for Responsible Lending website.)

"If we fail to act," the report concludes, "the consequences will play out for years to come as a generation of lost children grow to adulthood." Yet the report also affirms that action is possible, even in these harsh economic times. It provides a list of measures that federal, state and local governments can take toward the goal of ending child homelessness within a decade.

More:

* Visit the "America's Youngest Outcasts" website and download the report here

* Read about Colfax Community Network, a ministry with children in precarious housing profiled in Hope for Children in Poverty, here

Faith in New Beginnings

Christmas to Easter … the symbolic span of Jesus' earthly life. I acknowledge it's a long time to go between postings. Life has been hectic the past few months. But the desire to keep pushing for change and gathering the voices of those who yearn for a better life for children has not diminished. Resurrection season is a good time for good things to be reborn.

May the Good News of new life in Christ come alive within you, and flow through you to the world--and especially to children!