ce worse health; more developmental delays; more anxiety, depression, some behavioural problems; and lower educational achievement (NCH, 1998). Furthermore, homeless children face obstacles to enrolling and attending school. Some of these difficulties include transportation problems, residency requirements, inability to obtain previous school records, and lack of clothing and school supplies. Parents also feel the harsh effects of homelessness. Homeless females tend to have chronic depression more frequently than housed females. Homeless mothers are also much more likely to attempt suicide than housed mothers (Bassuk et al., 1996). Homelessness very often results in the break up of families. Families are sometimes separated as a result of shelter policies. In addition, children are sometimes placed into foster homes when their parents become homeless. In other cases, parents may leave their children in the care of relatives or friends in order to save them from the effects of homelessness or to enable them to keep attending their regular school. There are some cases where the homeless make their situation worse by wanting to have children while they are on the streets. For example Martin and -5- Kathleen, a homeless couple, say they want to have two children. What will be the fate of these children? They will most likely turn out like their parents spending time on the streets begging for money and drinking the remainder of the day away until they have to search for a place where they can spend the night (High Class Skids, 1990). HELP FOR THE HOMELESS Although there isn't as much help out there as there should be for the homeless, there is always shelters, which in most cases overflowing with homeless, and soup kitchens and organizations like street newspapers to raise money (James D. Wright, 1998). There is still a great need for more organizations and programs to help the homeless. Canada is far from dealing with the problem. Subsidiz...
