Despite what you might have heard on various talk shows. Kids don't want to live on the streets! Yet, they tell you that living on the streets is fun and exciting. That they have no responsibilities! That they want to live on the streets! These statements are easier to say than to be honest and say “I'm here because NO ONE wants me. Not even my family!” Who wants to admit this?

What if I asked you if you want me to hit you TEN times or FIVE times. You’d probably say five times. Does that mean that you want to be hit five times? NO! It simply means that you DON’T want to be hit ten times.

Likewise, kids don’t want to be on the streets. But, they don’t want to be home where, in most cases, it is worse!

“Actually, saying that kids live on the streets is a blatant lie!” “Kids do not live on the streets.” “Kids are dying on the streets!” So the challenge for the outreach and apartment support counselors is tremendous! They are the first ones to convince the kids that we care. At first, the kids will suspect that you want something from them, like everyone else does. You will have to help them overcome that!

Apartment support counselors work closely with the outreach counselors, in their initial support to the kids, as they come off the streets.

For most of their lives they’ve been used and abused by adults. Trusting you, a stranger, will not be in their nature and won’t come easy for them. But, when they do start sharing and trusting in you, it is the greatest feeling you will ever know.

The apartment support counselors must take even greater steps in teaching these young people social skills; how to get along and live in their community. They will no longer be surviving, but living. We need to teach them how to let go of their survival skills and how to begin to let their defenses down. We need to help them learn how to interact with their neighbors and others in the community. Counselors need to help them become familiar with the other agencies in the community and teach them how to reach out to those agencies for assistance.

Depending on how young they were when they arrived on the streets, they may not even have the basic skills to take care of themselves. They may not know how to cook, clean up, store leftovers, and the many other everyday things that go on in an apartment. Things we take for granted or that simply come second nature for us, they may not have a clue about. They may also be embarrassed to admit that they don't know how to do these basic things, so it's up to us to let them know that it's okay and we understand.

We can get there from here. It’s just going to take a lot longer than anyone expected.