One thing that has been brought to my awareness is the foster system. There has been a great increase in child protective services removing children from their families in the last couple decades. When a child turns 18, they "Exit Out" of the foster system immediately, even if it's in the middle of the school year. The foster home no longer gets a check for housing the teen and must evict them.
These people have bounced from house to house and already have no real family or sense of belonging.
That sounds a bit messed up!
I guess that if you get one of the 'good' foster families then you have really lucked out!
At Christmas time I guess I always think more of the elderly at home alone, but it is people of all ages that are affected
Oh it is terribly messed up. Sometimes a foster family will keep a child on the downlow, if they really want them to finish high school. But they are not supposed to so it's like harboring almost! But yeah, it affects any age...