Few people want to sleep in homeless shelters. But it is a last resort for many desperate individuals and families who have nowhere else to go. Unfortunately, not all of them make it out of these shelters alive.
Twelve children died last year in New York City homeless shelters, according to The Daily News.
“The number of children dying in homeless shelters quadrupled last year, according to a reportreleased Wednesday by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.”
The article continued:
“About a third of those deaths were homicides, a third were caused by improper sleeping positions of children and the remaining were natural causes or accidents, the report found.”
The Analysis of Child Fatalities in the New York City Shelter System 2004-2006 report, cited by The Daily News, also stated that all of the children who died in the shelter system were under five years old. Most of them were infants.
But most disturbing is that in 60 percent of those cases, the Administration for Children’s Services found that least one of these children’s parents been accused of child abuse or neglect, according to The Daily News. Sixty percent!
Something obviously needs to be done. The Daily News reported that Gotbaum wants to create a special shelter unit of police and case workers. But is that enough? Poor parenting skills need to be addressed, as does the homeless shelter and child services systems. Any suggestions?
Homeless in New York City 
Check out my story on homelessness in NYC at http://www.indypendent.org/2008/01/12/homeless-face-a-cold-fight/
Poor parenting skills needs to be addressed? How about the fact that 99% of these parents shouldn’t be parents period!
Theres no cure and no way to stop the moral-less freight train that Sex has become in our nation today, but until the honor of marriage and the value of family is restored, we unfortunately cant expect this insanity to stop.
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It is not a response towards what many people think. I feel like nothing. To know that you will die or to even have the knowledge of wanting to because you feel as though you dont have anything to live for. Is it the parents? Its more then that, and it always gets deeper. As individuals we will make an opinion on what we think is right. But the truth is, we will never really know how far we can get . If you feel that you dont have those tools around you , you will die and shiver on the luminating streets. But hopefully , one day there will be a different type of help. One where people can find harmony and peaceamong each other. Until then, we will continue to disregard all aspects of life, and just live like the animals that we are.