Anybody
who has ever driven by a homeless person has contemplated “how did that person
end up homeless?” The simple response is
“get a job” or “they are lazy and don’t apply themselves.” These are simple
answers, convenient answers and for some homeless people possibly a somewhat accurate
statement. For some they are living out
the consequences of a life of bad decisions.
Every time they came to a crossroads they invariably took the wrong
direction. They engaged in life styles
that resulted in addictions and destructive behavior. Most of these people grew up in “typical”
U.S. homes with mom, dad, siblings and the dog.
It was their decisions that caused them to veer off course. Is this true or a poorly conceived perception?
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| three generations |
Then
there are others who never lived in “Mayberry”.
Rather the family life modeled for them included dad out of the house,
mom inviting a variety of abusive men into the home to share sex and drugs with
and siblings running wild on the street while mom was absorbed in her own
issues. Police periodically arrived in
the neighborhood and took someone away and occasionally someone in the
neighborhood was shot or stabbed. Most
survived their wounds. The stories
shared on the front stoop of these homes talked about the addicted grandfather,
the homeless uncle, the abused cousin, the drunken mother, the cousin who was
never seen again. This was
multi-generational families living in poverty, addiction and homelessness. For many of these children their “lot was cast”. Bowman and Poppa’s data indicates that every
year in the U.S. one in fifty students will experience homelessness during
their K-12 school life (Bowman & Poppa, 2013). Recognizing this cycle, is it ethical to
allow the cyclone effect to continue to consume families? How does society stand by and watch the next
generation fall into despair? Would we
tolerate a family who lived in a hazardous home that resulted in multiple
fatalities from past generations continue to dwell there before ordering the
home demolished or restored? Principle A,
Do No Harm has been violated and Principle D, Justice are clearly violated in
these incidents.
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| help me find a house |
In
2012 Kilmer and his associates completed a research project which, in part,
looked at how children of multi-generational poverty and homelessness were
surveyed in how they perceived receiving public services (Kilmer, et al.,
2012). The sense of entitlement and normalcy to receive
these services was significantly higher than those children who lived in more traditional
home settings.
The
chain of poverty and homelessness is hard to break. Clearly homeless people cannot generally do
it themselves. It requires their communities
to come along side of them and help. To
not do so is unethical and immoral. APA Ethics requires the standards of
conduct 3.4, Avoiding Harms or 3.1,
Unfair Discrimination. Hopefully, the
future will be brighter as communities chose to take their responsibility seriously
and ethically.
References
Bowman, D., & Popp, P. A. (2013).
Students experiencing homelessness. In E. Rossen, R. Hull (Eds.) , Supporting
and educating traumatized students: A guide for school-based professionals
(pp. 73-92). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press.
Kilmer, R. P., Cook, J. R., Crusto, C.,
Strater, K. P., & Haber, M. G. (2012). Understanding the ecology and
development of children and families experiencing homelessness: Implications
for practice, supportive services, and policy. American Journal Of
Orthopsychiatry, 82(3), 389-401.
doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.2012.01160.x
