Death, Drugs & 11-Year Olds

Our team is currently responding to uprising trends of children as young as eleven-years-old who are dropping out of school, using drugs, and experimenting with high-risk behaviour. With the support of the community we step into these situations!

My co-worker Amanda and I sat across the table from twelve year-old Lucas as he gossiped about his peers.

“She’s only eleven and smokes weed like all the time.”

“Jonny got arrested last night.”

“Tia’s a slut.”

Lucas was quite reserved when we first met him, but now he’s grown to trust our team. He’s one of fifteen youth under the age of fifteen who we’ve met in the last three months — all of which are engaged in high-risk behaviour. In the neighbourhood of Strathcona (Vancouver), our late night presence outside the low-income housing complex has also allowed us to meet the single parents and family members of our new young friends. This has been a new and refreshing dynamic for our outreach team to work within. Each night we hear from concerned, loving parents about what’s happening in the area. These parents often just need to vent about their day, but sometimes they’re looking for parental advice.

“I know Tyrell started smoking weed, but what can I do? How can I talk to him about it?”

“David Pickton (Robert Pickton’s brother) is in the area and I don’t want him coming near my daughter.”

Between the high-energy twelve year-olds and anxious parents, our evenings in Strathcona have been busy. Amanda has especially taken an interest in the community, and has done an incredible job building into Lucas and his friends. Our hope and prayer is that we can do some preventative work in each of their lives; before they become entrenched in the street community. Our hope is that we can resource and support their parents, while they do their best to care for their children.

Our heart for the community is that we can be a positive influence now, so that we don’t have to meet them in five years stuck in the Downtown Eastside, recruited into a gang, or homeless on Commercial Drive. This work obviously takes time, with trust and relationships not forming overnight. Lucas’ behaviour though is a marker of trust and openness.

Written by: Jason Hradaway