In this study, the Alliance for Young Families once again documents the number of homeless young parents in Massachusetts. Last year, a third of all teen parents were homeless at some point. Though African-American and Latino teen parents together represent only 43 percent of the teen parent population, they represent 60 percent of all homeless teen parents counted in the study. In most cases, teen parents raise their children without the support of a partner, financial stability, or emotional maturity. Homelessness puts an even greater strain on the ability of young parents to develop good parenting skills and nurture their children.
Homelessness also makes it more difficult for teen parents to stay in school.
Without education, they put themselves and their children at greater risk for long-term poverty. Worse still, when young parents are homeless and move from one temporary location to another, they become more and more isolated from the programs in place to support them and their children. Thus, they jeopardize their own and their children's well-being. Through its efforts to document the number of homeless teen parents, the Alliance hopes to contribute to the work of advocates and policy makers who seek to ensure that all children grow up in safe and nurturing environments. Because homeless teens are so transient, however, finding and documenting them is a Herculean task.