Essay Final DRAFT REVIEW AND EDIT

Pranil Thapa

Prof. Erin Kelley

ENGL-1302-83461

April 13, 2018

The Academic Research Essay

The Influence of Behavior Management on the Rehabilitation of the Homeless Children in the United States

About 1 in every 30 children in the United States of America has been homeless at one point or the other over the course of the last one year. This is almost the same scenario year-in, year-out. Over 50% of these children happen to be of the ages of 6 years and below. Life in the streets is full of challenges; and these children miss-out on proper meals, healthy social connections, and rewarding intellectual development (Hodge et al. 28). This is a challenge since the first five years of a child’s life are considered as being crucial to the kind of intellectual, social, and physical growth that happens throughout an individual’s entire life. Therefore, it is essential to provide children with an environment that makes them feel secure and confident, and also facilitates them with age-appropriate understanding of the self as well as the environments around them (Savard et al. 688). The homeless are missing-out already, and the paper seeks to evaluate the behavioral management practices which can remedy the detriment caused by homelessness.

Background Information

Homelessness in the US foreshadows an epidemic of developmental, emotional, as well as physical harm to a significant number of the American youth. While a number of cities do provide some kind of shelter for these children, it is rare to find them meeting the acceptable standards. In most instances, the shelters are understaffed and underfunded; and even with the provision of the space to sleep in the night, the children may never have the chance to experience normal childhood (Thornberg 183). Besides, they are not welcoming, and most children actually avoid them arguing that they seems more like juvenile detention centers than welcoming homes. Indeed, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) in the City of New York has actually expressed the frustrations of trying to convince the children to remain at the centers. In essence, they are not appropriate environments for children and they do not personalize on the needs of an individual (Hodge et al. 30).

Behavioral Management Practices and Successful Rehabilitation of Homeless Children

Behavioral management practices tend to have significant influence on the rehabilitation of homeless children in the United States of America. They do facilitate the thought patterns, and it means that the homeless are able to reconsider some of their perspectives and approaches to life and ready themselves towards the acquisition of the rewarding skills. These are the kind of emotional intelligence, behavioral, and cognitive skills which will eventually enable them to live responsibly as adults. Rehabilitation is about finding out what is going wrong and seeking to correct it before it gets too late (Savard et al. 689).

Those involved in the rehabilitation process are referred to as the intervening parties. In this case, the parties include the government (through, say, the Department of Homeless Services or closely related programs), the various non-governmental organizations, volunteering groups and/or individuals, as well as the parents of the children in question. All these parties have legitimate interests in regard to what happens to the homeless children. The challenge is when they ignore the fact that every individual has faced personalized challenges, and hence need to have their case addressed from an individualized point of view (Thornberg 189).

Literature Review

According to Hodge et al. (28), there are over 560,000 individuals sleeping in the streets every single night. Over 300,000 of them are children; and of these, 50% are 6 years or younger. Children face unique challenges in the sense that they cannot fight-off threats, or even run away in case the situation demands. On their part, Savard et al. (688) argue that for an individual to be said to have changed in an effective manner, the motivation needs to be intrinsic. The proposed improvements need to make sense to them. Otherwise, they can still continue struggling to cope and opt for the life in the streets as opposed to being confined and restricted.

Thornberg (183-4) is of the view that culture plays a significant role in determining the take that individuals have on the suggestions being made about their lives. Culture has already impacted ideas about social behaviors, and it is rather challenging to cause individuals to diverge from these ideals. He encourages an ethnically balanced approach to every intervening measure suggested and/or implemented (208).

According to Tucker et al. (1956-7), if the remedying interventions are not undertaken early enough, the individuals finding it rather difficult to make improvements later in their lives. in any case, those who have already been using various substances or have gotten hooked to dangerous behaviors are always experiencing recidivism. These others make credible points. Nonetheless, there is a gap in their literature; and this is how to address the crises from a personalized perspective. It seems as if the application of universal strategies is not working in an effective manner (Tucker et al. 1959). This is the reason as to why there is the need for customization towards meeting the individualized needs as much as possible. The individuals themselves have to be involved to the extent that they really feel to be active participants in their own behavior management.

Rehabilitation has to include the provision of adequate and healthy meals in order to attain normal physical development. The children living in a home environment are cared for, and hence fed relatively well. In spite of the challenges associated with rehabilitation, the intervening parties ought to ensure that the child-victims are supported in this way (Thornberg 208). Studies have also established that listening to the children and demonstrating that one cares is an effective way of enabling them actualizes their social emotional development. Emotionally healthy people are able to handle stressing situations without resulting to escalation. Other kinds of assistance which ready them for life include cognitive competence and vocational proficiency (Tucker et al. 1959).

The Opposing View

Edelman (50) argues that there have been several instances when behavior management did not work, and the Department of Homeless Services of the New York City has actually appreciated this as a fact. The implication is that some individuals may never reform and improve in spite of the best efforts by the concerned stakeholders. Edelman proposes an arrangement that would mirror a juvenile detention center in order to enforce discipline on these children (57). Indeed, Cisco agrees and states that most of the children ending-up homeless are misbehaved (23). He adds that they should be compelled to see the sense in behaving ethically. The challenge with forced behavioral chances is that there is recidivism once the force is lifted. It means that one cannot live independently, and this is a challenge since adults are supposed to be independent and responsible (Tucker et al. 1957).

Conclusion

Rehabilitation works. Nonetheless, the stakeholders have to appreciate that every child is a unique case. While there are those universally applicable strategies which tend to facilitate some improvements in almost every scenario, humans and experiences are unrepeated. Therefore, the peculiarity means that rehabilitation for each child has to be individualized. With personalized strategies, the child has the voice and influences the choices made in relation to their lives (Tucker et al. 1959). Their profiles matter; and they influence the choice of the resources dedicated towards their rehabilitation. In essence, they own the learning process. The intervening parties understand the children a lot better than had the process been totally imposed on the homeless kids from above (Thornberg 208). Personalized interventions have flexibility and there are various means of expression. There are higher chances of success when the rehabilitation process is personalized than when standards are dictated by, say, a higher authority with no room for customization (Savard et al. 690).

Works Cited

Cisco, Walter B. War crimes against southern civilians. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2015, pp. 23-32

Edelman, Peter. Not a crime to be poor: The criminalization of poverty in America. New York City, New York: New Press, 2017, pp. 50-8

Hodge, James G., Barbara DiPietro, and Amy E Horton-Newell. “Homelessness and the Public’s Health: Legal Responses.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 45, 2017: 28-32. DOI: 10.1177/1073110517703314

Savard, Audrey, Mireille Joussemet, Julie Emond Pelletier, and Geneviève Mageau. “The Benefits of Autonomy Support for Adolescents with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Problems.” Motivation & Emotion, vol. 37, no. 4, Dec. 2013: 688-700. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-013-9351-8

Thornberg, Robert. “Consultation Barriers between Teachers and External Consultants: A Grounded Theory of Change Resistance in School Consultation.” Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, vol. 24, no. 3, July-Sept. 2014: 183-210. DOI: 10.1080/10474412.2013.846188

Tucker, Jalie A., JeeWon Cheong, Susan D. Chandler, Brice H. Lambert, Heather Kwok, and Brittney Pietrzak. “Behavioral Economic Indicators of Drinking Problem Severity and Initial Outcomes among Problem Drinkers Attempting Natural Recovery: A Cross-Sectional Naturalistic Study.” Addiction, vol. 111, no. 11, Nov. 2016: 1956-1965. DOI: 10.1111/add.13492