life on the streets

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Homelessness! What does it mean to be or become homeless? For me as a former Homeless youth the word "Homeless" took on a whole new meaning. At a young age I was introduce to Californias social service system. I am the youngest of 3 kids in my family, but I got it the worst... I was born on june 19, 1986 on fathers day to an abusive father and an addict mother. they say the day i was born both my birth Certificate and Death certificate should of been signed. I was a premature by 3 months and only weighed 2lbs, blue and not breathing. for the next serveral months I spent in an incubator, until i was able to be taken home. My parents spilt when i was younger and as that happend to most kids during situations like that, they go into the system... My two older brothers got to be raised mostly by my grandparents as i got to by a children shelter and group homes until i was 14... Sometimes i was able to visit my parents one week here and the next there. Visiting my mom was eh, aggraviting she seen different men all the time, she was on drugs and she moved alot. as for my father since i was a replica of my mother he tended to abuse me alot, locking me in basements and pulling me by my long hair because i was a tomboy so to speak. My father beat me lot and tried to convince me that basketball is why I turned gay. well at the age of 13 I wrote to the judge and got letters of recomendation in order to move to las vegas and start over. the reason why i wanted to move to las vegas was because my mentors/ coaches moved there and i wanted to play basketball for them. So my wishes were granted and i got to move, but because i was a minor i needed a guardian. Therefore I contacted my mother after not hearing from her for 7 years and asked her to move to las vegas for me. She ended up moving there for me and within the first month i got place back into a group home that was for girls who had just got out of corectional ficalities. i was the only one allowed to go to a public school. After California and nevada decided that that placement was not a good one and they messed up, they then placed me back with my monther. when i finally thought life was getting better my step dad gets out of jail and comes lives with my mom and they start there drugs and i get kicked out. living on the streets, attending extra classes at school, 3 sports and two job... at the end of the night you just want a place to sleep. i had no where to rest my head but a few park benches and sneeking into friends houses here and there. getting through high school was the worse and i was homeless up until my 18th birthday... If you want to know further of my story go to this link.....http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/content/fileadmin/oldsite/2005/07/14/feature1.html So the word "Homeless" to me means all kinds of things... What about for you?