tv The Runaways MSNBC March 17, 2012 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
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bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. cigarette? >> when you're in high school, nobody ever asks you what you want to be when you grow up, nobody ever says a homeless bum. spare any change? >> i don't have a spot right now to go. so we're trying to figure that out. >> a lot of these kids aren't from broken homes. some of them just want to be on the street. they want to see what it's like. >> i don't really think i have what it takes to be out here and survive really. >> mom? >> yes. >> this is tara. how you doing? >> where are you? >> i'm in san francisco still. >> you guys have a place to live? >> we're working on it. one day, i just decided to go out of town for a while, and i never came back.
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>> my goal is have my parents come out here. but, look, your son's all right. >> if i can get past this and get my life back together, i can do anything in the world. can you spare a cigarette? right on. how you guys doing today? i've been out here since i was 13. we all have reasons for being out here. some of it may be substance abuse. some of it may be family problems at home. mine's a little bit of both. >> on and off the streets for ten years, tara ran away from home in bloomington, illinois, for good when she was 18. today she's recovering from an addiction to meth and heroin.
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but she says she's been clean for almost a year. >> have you got spare change, sir? nobody wants to help a bunch of homeless street kids. they think that we're all junkies and drunks and just really awful people, and we're not. why should we be outcast just because we are having problems? we shouldn't be. >> every night, she shares a tent and a sleeping bag in golden gate park with her boyfriend, another runaway named brian. >> whoa. >> pretty. >> ah. sorry, you can't have any food. it's my breakfast. >> tara and brian met in the park two weeks ago. they've been inseparable ever since. >> love you. >> love you, too. >> like tara, brian says he fled home due to family problems. >> when i was younger, they told me that i was adopted, and, you know, they tried to explain it to me, but i was still too young and i kind of didn't really understand what they were saying and didn't grasp it.
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so i ended up pretty much just forgetting about the whole thing. >> then when he was 14, he received a phone call from his birth mother and the realization of his adoption set in. from that point on, brian became increasingly rebellious and eventually left home. >> grabbed a backpack, stuffed it full of clothes, walked over to the on ramp in kalamazoo, michigan, and stuck my thumb out. >> tara is more than five months pregnant from a previous relationship. >> it's completely unexpected for me. i was in denial. i didn't think i could have kids because i tried before. they're like, no, you're pregnant. >> although brian is not the father of tara's baby, he says he's trying to be responsible. >> before she has this kid, we are having a place. that's -- that's already settled. that's decided. we're not going to be out here by the time she has that kid.
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>> since running away, tara has only contacted her mother to ask for drug money. now clean, tara is too ashamed to call home and too proud to return. she hasn't spoken to her mother in several years. >> i kind of miss her. i'd like to let her know i'm pregnant. we left on bad terms. but i know she's my mom and i know she wants to hear from me. and i've grown up a lot since, you know what i mean? but i'm just -- i'm kind of scared to call her, you know what i mean? >> brian is hoping to get a job and find a place for himself and tara in a family shelter. until this happens, they do what they can to make ends meet. >> sell pot. it's the source of everybody's income out here. it's the only thing we can do. we can't make anything on panhandling. >> i got to cut out for a minute. hang on a second. >> golden gate park is one of the easiest places to find marijuana in san francisco. brian is part of an army of dealers who sell to everyone
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from local potheads to tourists. the park borders the haight-ashbury neighborhood. 40 years ago, this was the epicenter of the summer of love. signs of the 1960s still abound. but the haight, as it's known, has changed a lot in 40 years. for young people on their own, this is no longer a safe place. >> we kind of run the gamut here as far as substance abuse, you know, alcoholism, narcotics, mental illness. i mean, it's all right here. >> officer john andrews has walked the beat here for over four years. >> this is golden gate park. the park is a very violent area. we get lots of assaults. it seems like one of our main things is somebody getting hit in the back of the head with a skateboard. i mean, we get calls like that all the time. >> brian is facing some of these dangers himself. he says he's been dealing in the park for five months now.
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but tensions have grown between brian and other dealers. >> since i stopped talking to a certain individual, everybody in the park cut me off, wouldn't give me any pot to sell and make money. >> the problem, brian says, is that he still owes money to his supplier who won't back down. >> i'm just out here trying to you know, avoid the situation. and get everything set up so i can actually get a job because he wants it back right away. >> fearing for their safety, brian and tara have relocated to the opposite end of haight-ashbury. in the hills of buena vista park. >> only a few people know where exactly we sleep. yeah, i would definitely make sure i -- >> born and raised in bakersfield, california, josh gradually drifted away from home. >> yeah. >> hey, got any leftovers? hey.
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>> leftovers? >> please. >> since i was about 14, i have pretty much gone my own way, you know? i was able to make it in school up until my senior year and then i just fell out. i bet you it's hamburger. i don't need anything. i don't need a house to be happy. i don't need food to be happy. food's free, dude, as you can so well see on haight street. >> josh is a runaway musician without an instrument. he says his guitar was stolen in santa cruz, a beach town 70 miles south of san francisco. >> all i need, man, is 35 bucks and i can get this guitar from goodwill, and with that guitar i can make enough money to get a better guitar from the haight-ashbury music store. but i don't want to be here this long. >> josh says he met his girlfriend annie while he was passing through her hometown of santa cruz. she decided to join him and they've been together for four months. >> we're very different people.
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we come from very different places. he doesn't want to live inside. i don't think he wants to like ever settle down. this is what he loves doing. whatever he wants. i hope we can be together, at least for a while. >> if i had a goal, man, it would be to see as much as i can, do as much as i can, before i die. to experience as much as i can, actually, dude. that's it. that's the best way to sum it up. >> you're right. >> like a lot of runaway couples, they've quickly developed an intense bond, but annie hasn't embraced the life of a runaway like josh has. >> i don't think i have what it takes to be out here and survive really. you know? me and josh talk about that a lot, too. it's just like, if he wasn't here, could i make it? you know? >> one reason so many runaways come to san francisco is its mild weather.
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but many don't realize how cold and wet it can get at night. brian and tara are setting up camp in a secluded area which keeps them hidden from danger, but is prone to flooding when it rains. >> there's a huge camouflage tarp that will drape over the top of the tent that will cover mainly the side walls so that it won't seep through, because the rain will be running off the tarp, not onto our tent. hoping it will work. >> the combination of the weather and tara's pregnancy makes it critical that they get off the streets as soon as possible. >> what's wrong? >> my stomach hurts and i feel like i'm going to puke. i just don't feel good. being pregnant, i don't think i'll be able to keep doing this. especially if it keeps raining like this. i'm going to get sick out here. >> coming up, life is only going to get tougher for tara. a visit to a doctor reveals this pregnancy is high risk. >> they're monitoring my kidneys because this does have a lot of pressure and stress on the
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kidneys. >> and health issues aren't the only problems the runaways face. >> everybody has bugs. bugs, bugs, bugs. your mother has bugs. your sister has bugs, even my dog has bugs. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪
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francisco's buena vista park away from their regular spot in golden gate park. but this means a flooded tent and soaked clothes when it rains. >> there's like three or four different spots that like won't get flooded, won't get wet at all. and i can't camp there because people are liable to catch a glimpse of me. >> possibly spare any change so we can dry out our stuff? >> they beg for spare change, what they call spanging so they can may to dry their clothes at the laundromat. >> you spare any change so we can dry our stuff? >> runaways spange to fund everything from food to pay as you go cell phones. >> can one of your beautiful ladies spare any change so we can dry our sleeping gear? thank you, have a nice day. >> this is their most popular source of income. >> for the past couple days, it's been [ bleep ]. >> can you guys possibly spare any change so we can dry our gear out? >> our blankets are soaked again. my shoes got soaked again but we're going to take those off and dry them when they get to the laundromat.
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>> brian and tara who's 23 want to move indoors as soon as possible. brian has arranged for a meeting with a social worker about housing. >> they have family shelters. you know what i mean? just to be able to go in and have our own bed and our room, better than being out in the rain because i was starting to get sick and he was starting to get sick. >> starting to get sick. been sick. i just don't complain. >> i'm sorry i complain so much, but -- >> it takes a lot not to complain. >> those things go with being pregnant, i guess. >> it took me years to learn not to bitch about it, because there's nothing you can really do to change it. >> today, tara and brian are on their way to the hospital for her ultrasound. tara is worried about the health of her baby. >> my first pregnancy. i've been nervous throughout the entire thing because it's all new to me. i just want to make sure my baby's healthy.
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that's my only thing and i shouldn't be smoking cigarettes but i know there's a lot more harmful things i could be doing. >> tara is provided free medical care from a california health insurance program for low-income citizens. it pays for everything from dental visits to prenatal care. tara receives her ultrasound and awaits the results. >> all right. >> josh, a 17-year-old runaway from bakersfield, stops by the liquor store. he's on his way to meet some friends on the hill in golden gate park. >> everybody on the hill is there just because they want to be there. that's the real reason. everybody tends to drink their sorrows away. >> many haight-ashbury runaways congregate here, around what
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they call the drunk stump. >> pretty much like everybody's like family. like amongst the kids. when i ran away from home, it wasn't because i had like a horrible family situation. i was just really depressed. i don't know. i just decided to take off one day. i had thought about it for years and finally i just did it. >> stephanie says she left home at 17. she's been in san francisco for a month. stephanie can often be found at the drunk stump. traveling for years, she says she lost her leg trying to jump onto a moving train in new orleans. >> spare change, you know, guys? >> she says she's tried repeatedly to get off the streets. but whenever she's managed to pull things together, they've ended up falling apart. >> i got off the streets with my girlfriend.
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we like broke up in july and like, i kind of lost my place. and it's like, i'm homeless again, you know? >> stephanie hopes to leave the homeless life, but for now, she's content living outdoors and traveling with her newfound family. unlike tara and brian, most of these runaways aren't looking for shelter, jobs or other options. they like being runaways. >> you know, you slave away for nothing, you know, you're like one paycheck away from debt all the time, you know. you go to school to get a degree that doesn't even really mean [ bleep ]. you know -- it's not fulfilling. this life makes a lot more sense. >> so awesome. >> yeah. >> after a series of tests, tara returns from the hospital with ultrasound pictures of her baby. >> from what they could tell, i'm having a girl. everything's okay. my due date is may 30th.
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but she said i was right on on my dates. the baby's looking great. >> tara has just over three months to go. despite the good prognosis though, there are some serious risk factors. because of her past drug addictions, tara has had troubles with her kidneys. >> they're monitoring my kidneys because this does have a lot of pressure and stress on the kidneys so -- >> tara and brian aren't concerned. in fact, they see a bright side to the problem. the high-risk pregnancy increases their chances of getting into a shelter. >> we can turn around and get the paperwork for proof of the high-risk pregnancy. >> today's ultrasound has a profound effect on tara. >> my biggest struggle since i've quit doing dope was just finding a reason to make my life better, you know what i mean?
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you know, i didn't have no reason to get my life together until i thought i was pregnant. so, she kind of saved my life. if i can get past this and get my life together, i can do anything in the world. >> coming up, josh lands in jail, leaving annie on her own. >> that was josh's mom. she said she's on her way up here right now. >> then, after several years on the run, tara swallows her pride and makes a tough call. >> mom? this is tara. copd makes it hard to breathe,
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medi-cal enable her to make regular doctors visits for the baby. but her latest appointment brings bad news. doctors tell her she has hepatitis-c. >> they told me the baby doesn't have it so far. but the only thing they're worried about is like delivery. as long as she doesn't come out bleeding and i'm not bleeding, it should be okay. >> tara has already learned that kidney problems due to her past drug addictions make her pregnancy high risk. hepatitis-c is also related to iv drug use and attacks the liver, often leading to chronic liver disease. hepatitis-c has no cure. >> most of my friends that have it were junkies, and they didn't really care. i wasn't always safe about my habit. me being bummed out about it is not going to change the fact i have it or not. i've got to keep living. you know what i mean? >> at the drunk stump, runaways faced a rude awakening early
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this morning. >> woke us up at 5:30 in the morning to write a bunch of tickets for us. you know? everybody was pretty pissed talking [ bleep ]. they're like, just doing our job. >> camping in a park is illegal in san francisco. like a lot of runaways, dave has been ticketed numerous times. >> i got three right now. probably going to get one tomorrow. >> but the san francisco coalition on homelessness, an advocacy group, often legally clears the $76 fines for people like dave. he looks at it as paying for his fines. >> they pay for like camping and urination in public, drinking in public, like all kinds of stuff. the basic ones that like everybody gets, you know, those that they pay for. >> this assistance doesn't always sit well with haight-ashbury homeowners. >> every spring, a lot more
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homeless come to the area from around the world. and they come here, they don't have a lot of resources. >> once a month, the san francisco police hold a meeting for local residents to discuss issues of crime and homelessness. >> we can't keep taking in the world's homeless people. >> i don't want us to have this big welcome mat and let them think that they can do whatever they want. >> i see young people come in who urinate and defecate on the sidewalk, who pound on drugs, around the clock, who get into fist fights with each other. >> many of the runaways at the drunk stump epitomize the problems that anger some area homeowners. >> i was hanging around drinking. got into a scrabble in the bushes. i think i broke my hand. this guy was talking [ bleep ]. so we [ bleep ] and went to bed. >> like the people at the town meeting, they have a hard time coming up with solutions. >> seems like the city is sick
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of people like us, the police and all we're going to have a meeting about what to do about the homeless people. like, i already know what they're going to do. >> the homeless epidemic. >> yeah. it's not illegal to be homeless but they pretty much treat it like it is. you just want to go and euthanize all of us? like it's like we're just like you. we just don't live in a little box, you know? >> tired of dealing with the police, the runaways from the drunk stump set up camp in a secret location in the park, where the cops can't detect a campfire. >> i can't see it from the street. there's really no other reason. it's not legal or anything. >> conversation drifts to an unfortunate problem many runaways have in common, body lice. >> lay down. >> i've been on the streets for probably a total like six years of my life. and i only caught body lice once and i might have it now. so i might have it twice. but the only other time when i was [ bleep ] here. >> is this like a new thing? do you always have bugs?
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>> everybody has bugs. >> everybody has bugs. bugs, bugs, bugs. ♪ your mother has bugs your sister has bugs ♪ ♪ even my dog has bugs >> coming up, josh's mom pays him a visit. but her focus doesn't seem to be on getting him off the streets. >> so what do you want to do? you want to go like to -- >> yes, i'd love to. as soon as we get some alcohol and cigarettes. then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras and a wide range of low cost investments, you can execute the plan you want at a low cost. so meet with us, or go to etrade.com for a great retirement plan with low cost investments. ♪ hello, i am chef boyardee.plan with low cost investments. i make real italian ravioli.
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hem low. i'm milissa rehberger. the u.s. soldier who is suspected in the shooting deaths of 16 afghan civilians is in a federal prison. he's been identified as army staff sergeant robert b harks les. he's an 11-year veteran and member of the third striker brigade. president obama stopped by a bar for celebration of st. patrick's day.
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hey, come on. this way, dingbat. i kept running away all the time. i got my [ bleep ] together for a minute. i got a job. i went back to high school and then i just got tired of it one day and just left. that happens with me a lot. >> it's been several years since tara, a 23-year-old runaway, has spoken to her family. pregnant and just over three months away from having her baby, tara has decided to reach out to her mother in bloomington, illinois. >> hello? >> mom? >> yes. >> this is tara. >> hi. >> hi. >> how are you doing? >> i'm all right. how are you doing? >> where are you? >> i'm in san francisco still. i'm having a baby in june. >> um, okay. well, how's your -- have you been clean? >> yeah, i'm completely sober
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now, mom. >> now, but -- >> i've got almost a year clean off heroin and speed. >> because i'm like thinking about -- >> oh, the baby's fine. >> you know. >> she's fine. it's a girl. >> tara's mother is surprised to hear from her, and concerned. >> you guys have a place to live? >> we're working on it. >> so where are you staying? >> we're camping right now. >> it's cold. >> it's not as cold out here as it is back there. i did some [ bleep ] up stuff, i know i did. >> you know what? you're still my daughter. and i'm always going to talk to you. i may not always say what you want to hear, but i'm always going to talk to you. and i do love you, and i pray for you daily. so thank you for calling me and letting me know that you are still with us.
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>> yeah. all right. i love you. >> i love you, too, and take care of yourself. all right. >> bye. >> i'll talk to you later, bye. >> i'm glad i did it. she told me to come home. i don't want to come home. i want to do it on my own. >> tara's boyfriend, brian, has managed to set up an appointment with a social services group called connecting point. they hope the meeting will be a first step toward long-term housing. connecting point is located in the tenderloin district. it's one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, known for its drug and crime problems. >> we're hoping that we get
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bumped up to priority. it just depends what they have available. it's a completely different process if you're a high-risk pregnancy. >> brian and tara interview with an assessment counselor. he will tell them what they need to do to get into a shelter program. >> how long have you been clean? >> i got a year off heroin and like almost eight months off speed. >> that's awesome. how did you quit, just cold turkey, a program or anything? >> no, i just quit. i tried detox. it didn't work. i tried aid and it didn't work for me. >> what are you doing to keep yourself off? >> i'm pregnant. so that was a real big -- >> the meeting goes well, but brian and tara still face a number of hurdles. everything from obtaining i.d.s to written proof of homelessness from a social worker before they can get a spot on the list for shelters. >> going to be a lot of phone calling tomorrow. phone calling and putting in appointments and reminders on the cell phone. every day. so we don't forget and we don't you know, mess up anywhere. >> last night, 20-year-old
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runaway annie got some bad news about her boyfriend josh. she's been hoping that the two of them can leave san francisco and head across the country. but he was arrested when a policeman saw him carrying a martial arts weapon known as nunchuks. >> he was just walking around with his nunchakus out, which were some nunchakus that his mom had made him. so cops just stopped him and arrested him for having the nunchakus. it's a deadly weapon apparently. he sounded like he thinks he's going to just get out and get the charges dropped. that's what we're hoping for so then we can just leave. >> annie wants to have a gift for josh when he gets out. she's searching for the one thing he's wanted since he arrived in san francisco, a guitar. annie is unable to find the perfect guitar for josh. like annie, many runaways in san francisco come here with no plans to stay but eventually
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find themselves out of money and out of options. >> i have been working full time and going to school full time. so i was doing really bad in my classes because i was working and i couldn't really focus on school. >> hey, do you have any pot? >> and then one day, i just decided to go out of town for a while, and i never came back. >> annie has been worried about her ability to survive on the streets without josh. so far, with the help of friends, she says she's doing okay, and she still hopes for a future with him, eventually moving to the east coast together. >> i can picture myself like getting in new jersey and like stopping for a while with josh. >> back on haight street, it's clear that something is bothering tara. >> i don't think we'll have all the things we need tomorrow. >> the agency has let brian and tara know that they could get emergency housing right away.
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it would be a place to sleep each night, but they'd still have to leave each morning at 7:00 a.m. and carry their belongings with them all day. >> it would be best if we started doing that. it would get you out of the weather and you wouldn't get sick. >> tara finally admits that it's the shelter's location that bothers her more than anything else. >> i don't care about the elements enough to have to go all the way downtown and deal with crackheads all the time. >> just had a real negative outlook. >> downtown makes me want to go get high, to be honest with you. it makes me want to get some heroin and go get high because it's the only way i can deal with it. that's why i never go down there. >> you want to look good for the ladies on camera and kick us down a little spare change? >> stephanie, casey and vic decide to spange, not for shelter, but for beer money. this is what they do most every day. >> can you spare some change, pretty lady? >> sometimes like people have like gimmicks. like either you have like a
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trade. some people make stuff, art or do other stuff like that and then there are other people who are just like crackheads, spange, they will be just, like, hit up every person, like, hassling people. you know? >> there are different ways. you've got to the have an angle or a pitch already and the trick is, like you find a sign, you've got it make people laugh or they're just going to be like -- these people, they've seen it all. they've seen probably every sign, every gimmick. that's why san francisco's kind of hard to make money. >> with no luck at finding the right guitar in the mission district, annie and her friends take a train out to the city's well-to-do suburbs to spange. people here react very differently than they do in san francisco. >> either we like disgust them or they're like, wow, traveling kids, cool! people give us like $10 at a
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time here. instead of like -- well, so they can tell like we're not going to be here for a long time. >> for annie, spanging in the suburbs pays off. by the early evening, she has enough money to buy josh a new $100 guitar. >> i'm sure josh will be excited to see you tomorrow. >> annie gets a call from josh's mother in bakersfield, california. annie tells her that josh is expected to get out of jail tonight or tomorrow. >> does he know you're coming? >> unlike most runaways, josh stays in contact with his mother, and they get along. >> she said she's on her way up here right now. she made him some nunchakus. and that's why he got arrested was for having those nunchakus. she feels like it's her fault because she made them for him. >> coming up, josh's mother decides to experience her son's
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life on the streets. >> my first time seeing how he is since he's been on the road. now i'm actually walking in his shoes. you know what i mean? it's involvement in my son's life, interacting, you know. it's important for me to know. ig the kids, brittany. so how much do we owe you? that'll be $973.42. ya know, your rates and fees aren't exactly competitive. who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. who have used androgel 1%,
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>> with tara's baby on the way and with the prospect of indoor housing, brian has several appointments this week. he wants to secure some kind of steady income. general assistance, a welfare payment from the federal government, is a relatively small amount of money. so brian seeks out jobs to supplement this, including work with one of the local food shelters. >> haight-ashbury food program at st. anthony's. >> work eight hours a day and you get money. >> in the middle of the night, 17-year-old runaway josh was released from the county jail. three nights ago, he had been arrested for possession of a deadly weapon, but the charges were dismissed. while josh was incarcerated, his girlfriend annie bought him the one thing he'd wanted since did they had arrived in san francisco. ♪
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they decide to celebrate. >> i have a guitar. let's go get drunk! >> their plan to leave town is delayed. josh's mother is on her way to visit. >> yeah. i got the guitar. i can leave right now but i'm going to wait for my mom. >> good job. you're going to get us all arrested. >> hey, man, do you have a cigarette? >> tara and brian make their way to one of the local shelters. this is where they go almost every day to get a hot meal and to spend some time indoors. run by an organization called larkin street, the center provides a safe space for runaways along with other services. most of the runaways on haight street are familiar with larkin. while brian and tara are looking for a long-term home, stephanie and her friends have decided to skip town. this is the norm for transient
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youth. once a place loses its charm, it's time to go. but they've decided to get in one more night of drinking before they leave san francisco. >> it's a memorial to my leg. i don't know. i just thought it would be funny. everybody's always like, what did they do with your leg? i'm like, i don't know. >> six years ago, stephanie says she was traveling with a girlfriend and, on impulse, tried to jump onto a passing freight train. >> i was running for the train or whatever. i grabbed on to the ladder. and that's the last thing that i remember, like trying to get on it. and i was just like laying on the ground. i was like laying on my back and i like lifted up my leg or whatever, and there was no foot at the end of it. and i was like, oh, man, my leg's gone.
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i'm like this sucks, you know. >> despite its dangers, train hopping is a common way for runaways to get around. >> i probably have more dead friends than my grandparents it's like either from trains or like drugs. >> josh's mother is supposed to arrive any minute. >> going to meet my mom. on cool street. kind of looks like her right there. the way she's walking. i think that might be her. is it her? no, it looks like -- no. is it? oh, yeah. that is her. mama! mama! what's up? i knew it was her. what's up? hey, what's happening? >> hi, baby. >> how you doing? >> i love you. >> i love you. >> 37-year-old alisa arrives in high heels and a short skirt, ill prepared for camping with josh. >> i like your little dress outfit. >> thank you very much. >> what do you want to do? you want to go, like, to the tent? >> i'd love to. as soon as we get some alcohol and cigarettes. >> do you have a cigarette? >> no, i don't.
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i have one rolling around here. >> for josh, who was raised by his grandmother, his mother alisa, is more like a peer than a parent. >> get out of my tent. here we have some vodka. >> cool. >> some vodka. >> i'm a bad mom. >> alisa had josh when she was 20. he is the firstborn of her two children. >> they're the most important things in my life. my daughter is going to school and she's an "a" student. he's a prodigy also. he's a prodigy. he's prodigy. i interact with my daughter every day but she stays with my mother. >> she always let me make my own decisions, and that's what -- that's what builds character, dude. >> after only four months with josh, annie looks at his mother as family. >> my mother-in-law is here, and josh is back. he'll be like, this is the best day of my life. she wanted to take us back to
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bakersfield with her, but that's not my plan. hopefully that doesn't cause too many problems. >> i'm going to settle down with this woman. i hope ten years from now, that we're happy. because i know i'm happy right now. i'm really happy. >> for her part, annie is still focused on leaving san francisco. >> like i left everything that i was doing, the way my life was, so that i could go somewhere new and somewhere different, right? and i don't want to get stuck on haight street for the rest of my life. do you? >> hey. >> coming up, with the pressure of trying to find a home for tara and himself before the baby is born, brian's struggle comes to a head. >> my goal is to have my parents come out here. look, your son's all right, you know. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?
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>> runaways brian and tara have been working with an assessment counselor named aaron at connecting point, a social services group. he's helping them find long-term housing, and it's a complicated process. >> so far, they've brought me in a proof of pregnancy, brought in the high-risk documentation, explaining that the pregnancy is being treated as high risk due to tara's past substance abuse. difficult to say but as soon as
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that room comes open, they would get placed in that room. >> when 22-year-old runaway brian left his family in kalamazoo, michigan, he says he also left behind an addiction to crystal meth. he says though he could turn to them for help, he can't bring himself to do so. >> i don't want to tell them that i was resorting to having to sell pot to survive on the streets in san francisco. and i want to be able to tell them, look, i'm sorry i was lying, but i do have my stuff in order. i have a girl that i care for. she's pregnant and i'm getting a job. your son's not such a [ bleep ] anymore. you guys did do good raising a child. my goal is to have my parents come out here. look, your son's all right, you know. >> alisa has decided to experience life on the streets with her son. she's staying with josh and his
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girlfriend annie for one more day. >> my first time seeing how he is. since he's been on the road. he came home for christmas. and then he came back up here. and whenever i found out he was in jail, i came up here. but now i'm actually walking in his shoes, to see how it is, see what he likes, you know what i mean? it's involvement, involvement in my son's life, interacting, you know. it's important for me to know. >> while josh hangs out with his mother, annie is aggressively looking for a way out of san francisco. she's been using the internet at the local library to post some classifieds, asking for a ride. >> you post like, oh, i'm driving from san francisco to l.a. on such and such a date. like if you need a ride, give me a call. so we put an ad on there, but nobody's called us back yet. >> for stephanie, along with her friends dave and casey, is heading out of town. they wait for their ride on
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haight street. >> i guess we're going to santa cruz first. and then somewhere else. so, i might not be in l.a. for, like, three days. i don't really care. it's like a change of scenery. >> they've secured a ride from a friend they met in golden gate park. >> time to get on. hopefully we won't get stuck. >> josh and annie are also leaving san francisco. two passersby have offered them a ride out of town. they will be heading in the same direction as stephanie. to annie's hometown of santa cruz. >> i want her to be happy. you'll be fine. >> i love you. >> i love you. i'll give you a call as soon as
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there. >> june 4th, 11:22 p.m., 7 pounds, 6 ounces of a baby. >> she's adorable. her name's mary jane marie. it's kind of crazy. how beautiful she is, like i was just -- i'm just like, i'm still in awe. i just catch myself staring at her. she's healthy and happy. i never thought i'd be not living out of a backpack anymore. it's a hard adjustment to make having a living space and having somewhere to have your own stuff. i still find myself just like waking up and going wow. i'm glad i'm not in the park. i'm glad i'm here. i'm glad i got her. and i'm glad i got brian. it's easier to better yourself if you have people that believe in you and telling you that you can do it.
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