Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
Set To Thrive works to meet the needs of youth in foster care and those experiencing homelessness. There has been a 25% rise in student homelessness, which highlights the need for communities to help groups like the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth (“UHY”) (K -12 Drive; Arundel, 2025).
Who is an “Unaccompanied Homeless Youth”? A UHY is a child who is not living with a parent/guardian and is experiencing even temporary homelessness.
Do we have UHY in our county? The answer is YES!
These children are often hidden among the student population. Our school district partners identify them, and they need our help.
Below is a real example of a 9th-grade child who had what is likely an all-too-common experience of being a UHY. She is one of many hidden kids in our community who are experiencing this right now and who need our support. (The names have been changed).
Dear Diary:
My shoes are soaked, and I can’t go to school unless they dry.
It’s been a while diary, let me catch you up: Last week mom went in the hospital. She worked hard for the first part of the year, but we were still living day to day. I heard someone call it “living paycheck to paycheck” but I call it… normal.
Things have always kinda been this way. It’s always been just mom and me. And we’ve made a good team. She’s my everything. She got pretty sick the past few months and it’s been a lot of trips back and forth to the hospital.
It wasn’t a big surprise when Mr. Johnson came to the apartment to tell me we have to leave. We had been paying weekly but now I’m alone. How do people do it?
I haven’t told my friends at school. It’s embarrassing.
For the past week I’ve been staying at my mom’s friend’s apartment. Miss Lauren is really nice. She had a blow-up mattress for me so I took what I could from the apartment and put it in two big white trash bags and walked to Miss Lauren’s apartment before school this week. She lets me keep our stuff in the closet and she blows up the mattress for me each night when I come there.
My English teacher might have guessed I don’t have normal home. Today she said, “Mila, you wrote such a good essay. Tonight, when you get home, see if you can add some more detail to your essay but if you can’t get home to do it, that’s okay just come see me during break and we can talk about what you need”.
Do I tell her I don’t really have a home to go to? Would she help me? Should I tell her I write my essay on my phone just like this diary?
There is no way I’m gonna be able to finish the essay for my English class tonight. I don’t even have clean clothes to wear to school and my shoes got soaked in the rain today so I’m only going to school if they dry in time.
That’s my deal. I can only go to school if my shoes dry out. But maybe I could email my English teacher. Maybe she really could help?
The above is a reality for many children in our community.
Please support the needs of kids like Mila. You can donate to Set To Thrive so we can provide children like her with new clothing, shoes in her size, and three days of essential items.
Thank you,
Lisa Henderson
Set To Thrive, President & CEO
Reference:
Arundel, K (2025, February 4). 25% uptick in student homelessness highlights the demand for school resources. K-12 Drive. 25% uptick in student homelessness highlights the demand for school resources | K-12 Dive
