Special Section: November is National Adoption Month

Reconfirming what previous studies have shown, a new national study observes a link between a history of serious child childhood traumas and homelessness as an adult.

The study, funded by 12 Federal agencies, was released Dec. 8 by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo. Among its many findings, Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve, reports that

• 29 percent of homeless people reported being abused or neglected by someone in their household during childhood
• 27 percent reported being placed in foster care, a group home, or an institution
• 33 percent reported having run away from home
• 21 percent reported experiencing homelessness as children.

"I think what you see in this report is the failure of our primary, early intervention system," Cuomo said. "You are creating tomorrow's homeless today."

The study analyzed data from Census Bureau surveys conducted in 1995 and 1996 and was designed to provide up-to-date information about services for homeless people, the clients who use them, and how this population has changed in metropolitan areas since 1987.

Both the full report and a summary report are available online at www.huduser.org/publications/homeless