Brion

Featured Video Play Icon

This video you MUST watch to the end. Normally, after I ask someone for their 3 wishes – we end. But Brion didn’t want any wishes, and when he started to explain why, he opened up about his childhood and growing up in foster care.

Brion got back from the army after being discharged for health reasons. His mom asked him for his money so she could buy drugs. When Brion said no, his mother went to the police to have him removed from her apartment.

Brion is a homeless youth in Pittsburgh. Some nights it was safer to stay up all night then to fall asleep and become vulnerable.

At around 3 minutes into this video, Brion shares candidly about the problem of putting a child into different foster care placements. Brion was placed into his first foster home at 9, and says he was in 13 placements until he aged out at 18. Now at age 20, Brion says everyone who grows up with that much inconsistency becomes a product of the “system”!

Sadly, Brion’s story is very common. According to the California Progress Report, 65% of youth in foster care emancipate without a place to live. 40% of persons living in homeless shelters are former foster children. A similarly disproportionate percentage of the nation’s prison population is comprised of former foster youth. Less than 3% go to college and 51% are unemployed.

The good news is that although the story of a broken foster care system is common, young men like Brion are not. I cannot predict the future, but I can almost guarantee Brion is going to put all the madness behind him and have an amazing life!

Very special thanks to Family Links.

This Invisible People road trip is made possible by  Sevenly and Virgin Mobile USA, who are partnering to end youth homelessness through Virgin Mobile USA’s initiative, RE*Generation. For more information please click here.


Invisible People

Invisible People

           

We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Until then, we strive to be the most trusted source for homelessness.

Related Topics




Get the Invisible People newsletter


RECENT STORIES

San Diego Homeless Woman Arrested for Being Unhoused

Rachel

Arrested Over 20 Times for Being Homeless in San Diego

Dullanni

Aging in Oakland: Elderly Homeless Woman's Fight for Housing

Lilian

homeless woman in Florida

Laura


RECENT ARTICLES

Mayor Adams

Mayor Adams’ Stigmatization of Homelessness Has a Growing Body Count

San Jose Neighborhood, affordable housing

San Jose Officials Challenge Mayor’s Move to Divert Affordable Housing Funds

Nimby

For NIMBYs, All That Matters Is Keeping Homelessness Out of Sight

David Peery discusses Capitalism and how it impacts homelessness

Homelessness Is Capitalism Working as Intended

Get the Invisible People newsletter