Is it just me or does everyone sometimes get really depressed by humans?
Did you know one in every five Australian children will be sexually abused before they turn 16?
Yet, when asked to place in order the matters in society that concern us most, Australians rate child sexual abuse at 14 out of 15.
Rising petrol prices come first. You beauty.
Yesterday, the National Youth Commission claimed there were twice as many homeless teenagers in Australia today as there were 10 years ago.
Apparently we need to spend $1 billion over the next 10 years just to make a dent.
Last night, the ABC aired a show called The Oasis: Australia’s Homeless Youth, a devastating account of children as young as 12 sleeping rough, hanging out at food vans all night for company, crashing top to toe in filthy boarding houses after being turned away from bulging shelters.
There were stories of 15-year-old girls addicted to heroin within weeks of leaving home and the rapid downhill slide to theft and prostitution.
I know there is a chorus in Australia claiming that kids choose this life; claiming that government has made it too easy to reject good homes and strict parenting, and kids are wilfully abandoning safe warm beds because they just don’t like being told what to do.
I am sure this is sometimes the case, but nowhere near as often as some would have you believe.
On the Sunshine Coast, this very day, there are hundreds of primary school students who don’t actually have a permanent home.
Their parents, if they’re still around, are probably alcoholics, possibly heroin addicts.
Teachers and counsellors do as much for these kids as they can.
They feed them where possible and forgive homework and uniform indiscretions.
They talk to the parents at every opportunity and invariably the drug-addicted mother promises to get clean; to give up the booze; to find state housing; to make sure there’s dinner tonight.
Invariably the same kid turns up the next day looking just a little more lean and hungry.
And then there are the children in violent or abusive homes.
No matter what the neglect, eventually all these kids are forced to accept they are on their own.
If they’re lucky, they get picked up by an organisation like Integrated Family and Youth Service (IFYS), but CEO Mark Clissold admits there are never enough beds to meet the need.
In truth, most of our homeless kids are cadging a couch at a mate’s house or hanging out all night on the streets. I guess we’re lucky it’s warm.
The thing that IFYS works so hard to change is the way these kids view themselves.
Watching Oasis last night, it was the sense of worthlessness that got to me the most. It was the fact that these kids have lost all hope.
They are resigned to failure, looking forward to nothing more than drugs or drink to dull the pain.
No matter what some people tell you, kids on the street are largely victims of circumstances completely beyond their control.
The most important thing is intervention, spiriting kids at risk away to safety as soon as possible.
Teaching them that Australia really does care when they are being hurt or neglected.
For that, we need foster homes, teen shelters and lots of money.
Right now Australia subsidises the mining industry to the tune of around $9 billion dollars a year (Google it, I promise you it’s true).
Suddenly a billion dollars over ten years to keep kids safe doesn’t sound like much, does it?
Even if you don’t agree, think about this. If we ignore these kids, if we continue to bleat more about petrol prices than failing families, we will undoubtedly reap what we sow.
The more abandoned kids there are out there on the streets, the greater the chance your house, your car, your plasma, even your own children will not be safe.
Don’t we at least owe ourselves the luxury of saying we did everything we could?
