Caring for our homeless teens
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November 23, 2009 • Jacqueline Yang, Guest Contributor
Filed under 2009-2010
When everyone and everything else in their young lives fails them, Covenant House Alaska is here to save them from the streets, with unconditional love and a door that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“By the age of three my parents were no longer in my life and I had been placed in the State’s custody. My little sister and I moved in with my grandmother when I was 9, and when I was 16, my uncle moved in and I knew it wasn’t safe for me to stay there,” Said Kelavina, a previously homeless youth, who shared her life experience as a homeless teen at this year’s Candlelight Vigil that took place on November 5.
“When I was 17, I remember sitting in Town Square looking across at the Covenant House Crisis Center; it was raining and I had just been kicked out of a tent by someone who I thought actually cared about me,” Said Kelavina.
Covenant House provides food, shelter and care for homeless youth who are in desperate need. The 40 to 50 full-time staff members at Covenant House also provide support and life skills youths need in order to put their lives on the right track.
“I spent several months wandering the streets, couch surfing and sleeping in cars,” added Kelavina, “Being really tired, I gave up the fight and walked across the street. I was scared and mad at myself for being in the situation that I was in.”
Kelavina was one of many homeless youths in Alaska and definitely was not the last youth to enter into Covenant House.
Covenant House has been open for 21 years. One of their biggest goals would ultimately be to close their doors and not be needed anymore. Unfortunately, that probably isn’t going to happen any time soon, according to Sheila Parker, Event Coordinator for Covenant House. However, Parker says that they’ll stay there as long as they’re needed.
“Our philosophy is that education is very important so we do encourage the kids to finish their education,” stated Parker.
For those who are between the ages of 13 to 17, they must complete their high school diploma; if not, then their GED. If they really feel they cannot go back to school, they must at the very least find a job.
“At 17, I was not interested in working. I was really only interested in drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and partying. I was in and out of Covenant House 13 times. I had a few jobs but couldn’t keep them due to the stress of the surroundings, and the fact that drugs and alcohol played such a consuming role in my life,” said Kelavina.
If the youths go to school, staff at the Covenant House try to figure out where they go to school and make sure they can stay in their current school. It doesn’t matter if it’s across town; they will make sure you get to school, either by taxi or bus.
“They provided me with a place to sleep, and after a lot of encouragement, I did go back to school and was able to graduate with my high school diploma,” said Kelavina.
There are many reasons why teens go homeless. It’s not always necessarily their fault they become homeless; sometimes the streets are a lot safer than their homes.
“It’s very hard for youth who have had a rough upbringing to know how to trust people. Teenagers tend to be very stubborn and it’s very hard for them to realize that, oh yeah, maybe I do need help and yes, I can trust these people,” stated Parker.
For those of us who cannot put ourselves into the shoes of these homeless teens, try to understand that it’s a big stigma to be homeless and to be able to admit that you don’t have a family is a hard fact to accept.
“People in the street actually become their family and they build their own little community. It’s [being homeless] just become a lifestyle for them and that’s all they know,” added Parker.
Covenant House tries to prevent their youth from becoming homeless adults; they try to put a stop to it before it gets that far.
“Being pregnant changed my mind about a lot of things and one of those was recognizing that I needed to be able to make it on my own. The staff helped me get medical care, public assistance and connected me with services that could help me move toward independence. It took me a long time to figure that out, but today I stand before you sober, healthy, living in my own apartment, and I am the mom of a wonderful baby boys,” said a proud Kelavina.
Not a lot of people are aware of the small, homeless teen population, which makes up about 200 of the over 5,000 homeless out there. Covenant House Alaska wants youth to know that sometimes it’s okay to ask for help, and it’s okay to need help. They try to teach youth how to be independent and teach them the basic skills that they don’t have. A lot of them are put into situations where they do things for money or for food they probably don’t normally do, but then they get into a desperate situation so Covenant House tries to teach them that there are other ways to go about it–to live and deal with people in a better way than picking a fight. Everything is a part of learning responsibility; there’s a consequence for every single action that you do.
“There are good stories that come out of them [homeless youth], and there are kids that go through this program and go off to be very productive and very successful lives. It just makes me realize that whatever is going on in my life, there are other people who have it worse. I may be doing just a small thing, but what I am doing is making an affect on the youth that we serve. It’s very heartwarming,” said Parker.
