Don’t let your girls on the streets

The cause for most youth homelessness is family conflict. That conflict has a wide-ranging spectrum that is multilayered and very complex.

The conflict can be temporary, episodic or chronic. In other words, families are fluid; they move through stages and are always changing. All families go through periods of change, some positive and others challenging. It is during those challenging times that opportunities for growth are created and the family can become closer and stronger. However, for some of our families, one more challenge or stressor can be all it takes to send them into a tailspin of chaos, turmoil and upheaval.

If there are no adequate interventions, the family can experience a youth who leaves and becomes homeless. When that youth becomes homeless, we in the Mat-Su Valley have no systems in place to supervise, protect and nurture him/her. With no systems in place, there isn’t even a chance for family mediation to reunify these families. Some families need a caring, objective third party to renegotiate, reestablish and reconfirm their commitment to the wellbeing of all family members.

Some youth and families will need a cool-down period of two to three days before family mediation can take place. Again, the Valley does not have a safe and secure place to provide that for this population. Just a simple place to stay warm, eat and take a shower doesn’t exist in the Valley. The alternatives are the streets, couch surfing, doubling up — or worse, living with another adult. And that adult may very well have other motives, like alcohol and drugs, or the unimaginable, sex and sex trafficking.

Street life has documented stages that are predictable and progressive, just like alcoholism and drug addiction. Once a youth is on the street long enough, he or she meets street mentors. Those mentors can provide information to help a youth better survive the streets with ways to get food, Dumpster diving, collecting cardboard, carpeting, or whatever to stay warm, and basically the do and don’ts of the streets. But then there are those other mentors — those looking for mules (carrying drugs) and those seeking girls to sell themselves for a place to stay. And, don’t be naïve; sex trafficking is a reality in our state. The girls themselves recruit other girls, who are also forced to have sex for money.

Now, it is your turn to know the facts, dad. One in every five homeless girls will get involved in sex trafficking within 48 hours on the street. As a father of a daughter and grandfather of two girls, it would haunt me and would be incomprehensible to even know where to begin dealing with such a demoralizing event.

The stages on the street continue into a downward spiral of distrust of any person or group trying assist a youth to come in from the cold and lifestyle of the streets. Girls involved in sex trafficking become shameful of that lifestyle, but are also fearful of repercussions from those trying to help.

Finally, the last stage is disequilibrium, in that the homeless youth feels it is easier to keep their street life hidden rather than deal with the police or any assisting organization. Now they believe they are the ones in trouble.

We need to do all we can to provide and have systems in place to strengthen our families so they are able to withstand the challenges that come their way. And, if a family is in crisis with a youth who has left the home, we need a safe place to protect and nurture that youth until hopefully he or she is reunified with their family. If that is not possible, we need to have a continuum of care in place with housing options with stated outcomes.

First and foremost, we need our youth to continue attending school and graduate, or provide them with job training opportunities to become productive and mature adults. These youth will need caring and nurturing adults to mentor them through this process of becoming self-sufficient. They will need the opportunity to have positive influences with other productive peers in their lives to develop lifelong social skills. These options are nonexistent in the Valley.

If you believe it is time to have a safe and secure place for our youth for whatever reason they’ve become homeless, please consider joining the good fight. MY HOUSE wants homeless youth to know that we, as a community, care. We are a nonprofit organization that plans to provide the basic needs of safety, shelter, warmth and nourishment during difficult times for our youth and their families.

We meet the first Thursday of every month at Wasilla Bible Church, behind Burchell High School. Everyone is welcome to attend the group’s next meeting at 10 a.m., May 3.

For more information, visit myhousematsu.org.

Michelle Overstreet is president and Michael P. Carson is vice president of Mat-Su Youth Housing.