Broken Homes Crumble During Economic Crisis

Written by Steve Simpson, author of Runaway

As always, CHILDREN are paying the ultimate price and becoming the final victims of the economic crisis. When most healthy, functional families have economic problems they tend to band together. Each member might have to make some personal sacrifices, but in the end they will hopefully become closer and spin something positive out of negative, external influences.  But, what about the families that already had problems? What about the “dysfunctional homes”?  Unfortunately for these families things most likely will get worse.  It’s like throwing gas into an already large emotional fire.

There is never an excuse for abuse of any kind regardless of the financial situation.  However, when things get rough people begin to lose hope. Alcoholism and drug use increase.  Compulsions such as gambling or misguided spending proliferate. Short tempers become shorter.  Various mental or even physical illnesses (such as ulcers and high blood pressure) become more acute.  The end result: child abuse and child neglect.  Parents with these existing tendencies will sink deeper into their depressions and emotional distractions.  Or many times, one parent might be functional but survival requires them to take all of the burdens of raising a family. They in turn will pass their stress and anxiety down to their children. This parent will feel overwhelmed and angry and many times that anger is misdirected toward the ones they love the most. The children feel they have brought this on, and believe that they are a burden to the family. They might hear their names screamed in fights between their parents.  Now the children will spiral into depression. Mental health issues do not just affect people over the age of 18. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large proportion of them young adults.

This domino effect is almost endless. Suicide in families will begin to increase. The number of runaways skyrockets. Alcoholism and drug abuse explodes among multiple generations.  Remember, many attempted escapes from the great depression aren’t limited to Wall Street, but are happening right on Main Street!  While we are all scrambling to fix the problems at the banks and insurance companies by pouring billions of dollars into the economy in order to secure our nation’s financial well-being, let’s not lose sight of the many families in imminent danger.  We need to ensure that everyone can be safe during this economic storm. Particularly those fragile children who may have  already been burdened with family problems before the economy soured and now are facing more extreme emotional and/or physical abuse.

If you are a parent who realizes there are problems in the house and because of this economic crisis, the problems are getting out of hand, please don’t ignore your gut feelings.  Don’t live in denial.  For your sake and the sake of your children……get help NOW!  If you are a young person and can relate to this, you are not responsible for the problems, and you don’t have to be a victim of any type of abuse.  Speak to your school counselor or social worker. Go to your local community center or to a near by house of worship.  They offer outreach programs that can provide the help that you need.  They are designed to deal with any type of abuse, mental illness and even with obtaining a hot meal!  Never be afraid to ask for help and advice. There are people who deal with these things every day and can give solutions and alternatives that maybe you didn’t think of. Believe me, I know.  I lived through all of what I have written about.  Anybody I know who thought of suicide or running away and didn’t go through with it, never regretted the decision not to do it.

The economic problems will get better.  Stocks will go up. But a young person’s life is a stock we can’t afford to have go down!

Guest Article Contributed by Steve Simpson – Author of Runaway
Steve Simpson, youth advocate and young adult author, has been the leader of youth help groups and has spoken on national television for many years. Runaway is an excellent tool for professionals and concerned parents or adults to gateway conversations with a young person to discuss these difficult matters. Since Runaway is fiction, with action and even young romance, it is not threatening for a young person to read. The dramatic aspects of the story contain many of the problemsmentioned in this essay.  At the end of the story, there are articles with some helpful insights and solutions to the issues faced by at-risk youth.  To order Runaway please visit www.PowerPublishingCorp.com or call 1-800-431-1579.

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