As a community, it is our duty to focus on the wellbeing of everyone. In my life, having an adopted brother previously placed in the foster care system, I understand what children go through when they are in an unstable living environment. The public needs to be aware of the horrible events occurring. As of now, my community doesn’t really focus on the well-being of children. There are children in and out of the foster care system their whole lives until they are eighteen years old. To succeed and be prepared in life, kids need to live in a stable and comforting environment. Many of the children in my community have faced hardships that they shouldn’t ever have to face. Children throughout the community are suffering through situations other children their age don’t have to worry about. There are kids who don’t get enough food to eat every night because their parents aren’t prepared to take care of another human being. Children get locked up in cold dark rooms with nothing to do but emit silent cries of help. These children don’t have a voice. The dehumanization of children needs to be ended. If I were mayor of my town I`d work to be the voice of every child that has no voice. We need to put an end to child mistreatment.

To solve the problem of children being neglected, I`d offer parenting courses throughout the City. A small fee will be in place to cover the cost of the licensed parent coach on duty and the facility in which the event will take place. A fee waiver can be made available to those who need financial support. Social media campaigns will draw attention to these events and bring awareness to the issue. A team of experts in the field of child protection would be created to help organize the events as well as further investigate cases regarding mistreated children. Our state laws need to be reviewed and updated. They need to be more heavily enforced to ensure every children are being properly cared for. Over time, the number of children in foster care and number domestic violence crimes should be reduced, with these programs.

The city I live in, has an exquisite number of opportunities for the homeless population. Foodbanks and the Lighthouse mission has done a great job providing temporary shelter and food to those in need. Even with the large quantity of beds/cots available for homeless people to sleep on, some choose to sleep outside. Homeless camps have been established throughout the community, some camp clusters happen to be less than a mile away from public elementary schools. In the past people within these camps haven’t caused many problems but recently spike in the homeless population has had major effects on the community. The majority of homeless in the camps have been using and not properly disposing hypodermic needles. With these camps being so close to parks, schools, and public places, proper disposal of the used needles is crucial for a safe and sanitary environment.

Clean up teams need to be established to create a more sanitary and safe environment. Homeless people will continue being homeless unless they are taken into programs that will help them. Rehabilitation programs and productive citizen programs need to be created too. The people who are homeless typically don’t have stable jobs and these programs have the potential to get a large portion of the homeless population out into the workforce. Once they have a job they can support themselves. The programs will give the knowledge and tools necessary for the workforce. Friendships and connections will be made throughout the process and the homeless will hopefully have something to live for again. Not only will the City benefit from these programs but the homeless population will appreciate the opportunities being given to them.

Sometimes in life it is easier to turn your head and look the other way when asked to make difficult situations. Addressing issues related to homeless people and abused/neglected children is difficult. The task may be hard but things will never get better if everyone decides to look the other way. Sometimes the greatest thing anyone can do is to look at the problem directly and work aggressively until the problem is resolved. I like to think that if I were major of Bellingham Washington, I`d look at these problems directly and make the needed changes.