Homelessness and absence of a loving family is like a curse for a child. Factors such as family disruption, residential instability, broken families and interrupted schooling together contribute towards the amplification of the mental health risks in the child and have deep negative effects on his emotional well being
Such homeless kids develop behavioral anomalies, anxiety disorders, learning disabilities and emotional instability. They exhibit a highly volatile and disruptive behavior, and possess a very low self-esteem and self-confidence.
Placing such kids in foster homes or boarding schools helps a lot but the traits associated with homelessness and insecurity continue to haunt them even after they have a home and a family of their own. These kids continue to live in a cocoon of shyness and show symptoms of emotional withdrawal and detachment even in their newly acquired homes because they find difficulty in trusting others or opening up with them.
Eventually, most homeless children develop some or the other kind of mental illness, anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or may even resort to addiction or substance abuse (alcohol and drug problems). Such kids have very low sense of self-worth and get broken very easily. The immense pain and sadness leads to long spells of depression and self-destructive behavior. As a result, homeless children develop very strong suicidal tendencies.
Juvenile delinquency becomes very common among homeless kids as they develop small criminal traits such as theft, robbery, deception, fraud, manipulation or even sexual assaults and murders. In maximum cases, these homeless kids become extremely abusive in nature.
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In 2002, in an unusual criminal case, Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that offenders suffering from severe mental disabilities should not be executed or sentenced to death. It is considered very cruel when capital punishment in the form of death penalty is meted out to people suffering from mental illness or mental disability