Parents Left Furious by Fundraiser to Help Their 'Homeless' Teen Blasted

A mom has been praised for helping her teenage daughter's friend, whose "parents left her homeless."

The parent shared the dilemma to Reddit's Am I The A**hole forum, under username u/mommabear543, as she claimed the teen, Lily, was left with nowhere to live soon after turning 18.

While she didn't specify where they're based, in America homelessness is an ongoing issue.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness claimed in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit, there were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness across the country.

The majority, 70 percent, are individuals, and of that group 6 percent are classed as unaccompanied youth, defined as under 25.

The figure breaks down to 34,210, with the site saying: "Decision-makers are often concerned about children and young people due to their vulnerability."

The post, which can be read here, has amassed more than 11,000 upvotes since being shared on Tuesday, as she explained: "My daughter told me she was sleeping on different friends couches and talking about dropping out to work a job.

"So my family took her in so she could finish school. I just can't imagine a parent kicking their kid out like that."

School data is one indicator used to measure homelessness, as revealed in a report "Key Findings of 2018-2019 Public School Data on Children and Youth Homelessness," published last year by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The findings stated: "The number of identified, enrolled students reported as experiencing homelessness at some point during the last three school years increased 2%, from 1,358,077 students in SY 2016-17 to 1,387,573 students in SY 2018-19. The number of homeless students decreased 8% between SYs 2017-18 and 2018-19

"Fourteen states experienced growth in their homeless student populations of 10% or more during the three-year period covered in this report. In contrast, only nine states saw equally large decreases during the same period."

In the post, the mom went on to say Lily was so grateful for the support, she and her daughter decided to host a community bake sale and barbecue to raise funds to try and cover some costs of housing her.

They drew up flyers and penned social media posts, as the mom wrote: "They said "Community barbecue / Fundraiser for Lily" and a note from Lily saying 'As you may know, my parents kicked me out of the house and cut off any financial support on my 18th birthday, leaving me homeless with no money or car.

"'The 'Smiths' gave me a home, expecting nothing in return except that I stay in school and graduate. I wanted to do something to give back and pay my own way!'"

The event was a success and raised a lot of money, as the girls' school friends came by, as did family and friends.

"The girls ended up raising several thousand dollars which I ended up putting in an education fund for Lily, where I'm also putting stuff like the cash she gives me from her job 'for groceries' and stuff like that. I'm planning on surprising her with it closer to graduation," the mom said.

But it seems Lily's parents also saw the flyers and were unimpressed at how they had been portrayed to the community.

"Anyway, Lily's "parents" are irate, they saw that I posted the flyer on the community Facebook page and most everyone in town saw it. I got a call from her dad screaming into the phone at me for 'slandering' their family online. Which I felt like was such bulls***t.

"I told him to either buck up and act like a parent ought to, or lose my number," she warned.

She blocked it after he continued to yell, and after Lily's mom rang, who called her "trashy" for "begging" the town for money, claiming she didn't know the full story.

The mom continued: "I was like 'Well, it was your fault?' and she got so angry and said that she and her husband had given their daughter 'everything' and she was 'ungrateful' which I feel is BS because they ain't even giving her a roof over her head."

The chart below, provided by Statista, shows the number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S.

You will find more infographics at Statista

In the comments, she answered numerous questions confirming she didn't know why Lily was kicked out, but said she was a "straight A" student, who didn't "drink or smoke," adding it's not drug-related either.

Addiction is often associated with people experiencing homeslessness, as the Addiction Center noted: "Tragically, homelessness and substance abuse go hand in hand. The end result of homelessness is often substance abuse, and substance abuse can also contribute to homelessness."

Frightfurs_Unleashed said: "NTA Frankly, that's just a s****y thing for a parent to do. If they didn't want to get slandered, maybe don't kick your child out the instant they become an adult?"

AbleRelationship6808 said: "Right. If you don't want people to know you kicked [your] daughter out of the house when she turned 18, then don't kick her out of the house. The rule should be, if you don't want people to know you did something awful, then don't do something awful."

And TheOGClyde added: "Not even a real adult. She just started her senior year. She still has to raise her hand to use the bathroom. I have an intense hate for those 'parents' who kick their kids out the day they turn 18. Especially those still in highschool as it's effectively a life sentence to poverty because of the lack of education short of another external influence to bring you up."

Newsweek reached out to u/mommabear543 for comment and was unable to verify this story.