"Outside Kids:" Homeless Families in Portland, Oregon

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Photo by: Paul Kuroda/LA Times


Among the thousands of homeless individuals on the streets of Portland, homeless families and youth make up about half of the population. We would never know this however, since most homeless families are hidden in plain sight. Most campsites that hold families are in wooded areas, away from urban streets, or right in the center of the city, like underneath the Hawthorne Bridge. 

“We lived in a wooded area, it was really nice. We got to run around… I used to play my little imagination games in my own little world, it was really fun,” one of the children said this in regards to living in the woods. 


Children are mainly homeschooled being taught by their parents if living on the streets. However, if families do get into shelters, the children become enrolled through school. Path Home is a homeless family shelter in Multnomah County, serving up to 900 families. The children are now getting a public education, however most do not know what to make of it. Many feel very much like outsiders, like they do not belong. 


“They call themselves ‘The Outside Kids,’” a mother said about her children who recently started them in a public school.


Right now, there are about 800 homeless families on the waitlist for Path Home, and it is imperative that they seek shelter soon. What these families try to avoid the most is the potential for them to be apart, in which children are sent to foster care. A lot of homeless families fear of something happening to their kids or have the state taking their kids away. 

Individuals who are homeless with young children are partaking in a survival tactic of sorts, trying their best to survive all while keeping the family together. Children that experience homelessness today are prone to face a variety of mental health issues and are at risk of becoming homeless as adults. These families and kids deserve a just future, with opportunity and gentle well-being. 


Resources:


Path Home Family Shelter: https://www.path-home.org/family-village 

My Father’s House: https://www.familyshelter.org/what-we-do/program/ 

Our Just Future: https://ourjustfuture.org/services/homeless-services/ 


-Jasmine Lumanglas

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