to subscribe to our msnbc prime-time newsletter or for information on upcoming programs go to prime.msnbc.com. due to mature and graphic subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. you are about to become a witness. >> captured on camera, the runaways. >> yeah, another thing about portland is like everybody is doped up on heroin. >> they can take your needles, but they can't arrest you if you have this card. going to go buy some drugs. >> portland, oregon, one of america's havens for young runaways. >> heroin use in portland is way above national averages. and it's hard to believe. >> mad dog!

>> i have a nice knife. >> i don't want my kid to one day be the person walking by to yell "get a job". you know? >> it's very difficult for anybody to watch a 14-year-old girl living in the streets. >> hundreds on the streets, how do they survive? why do they come here? >> there's a lot of good kids out here. they're not throwaways, you know, we can't give up on them, we can't throw them away. >> are you clothed? can you get clothed for us? >> we'll step inside their world, captured on camera, the runaways. 2 million kids run away each year. that's three times as many compared with just a decade ago. in most cities street kids are population of outcasts who live outside the view of most of us. in portland, oregon, though, they are quite visible. the city, which has become a major center for cheap drugs in the northwest has decided that punishment alone is not the answer to the growing problem. is their approach working? see for yourself as we spend

three weeks on the streets with these lost children. for them, drugs are a way of life and spare change can mean survival. their language is raw and where we could we left it that way because no one can describe their reality better than they can. portland, oregon, has a large population of runaway kids for a city of its size. over several weeks, we followed three of them. jessie, only on the streets of portland for two weeks, is learning some hard lessons about homelessness and being alone. >> like every time someone tells me to get a job. i'm like what? so i can be a slave like you? >> emily, who is fighting the clock is due to have a baby in less than two months. >> i know i can't be out here and there's no way my baby can be out here. >> spare change for a wanna-be rock star? >> and chris, on the streets for five years, understood bo by his heroin addiction. >> can you spare any change at

all, sir? >> chris hit the streets at the age of 16. now 21, he spends his days panhandling to support his heroin addiction. >> spare any change at all. have a nice night. >> this morning, chris is feeling ill from withdrawal. it's taken him an hour to panhandle $10, just enough for one fix. >> spare any change at all, sir? have a nice day. >> on the surface, portland oregon seems like an odd place to have a homeless youth problem. the city is pristine. as the only major metropolitan area for hundreds of miles, many feel that's why there's so many kids. they come by train, bus, hitchhiking, and they come for drugs, mostly black tar heroin. the i-5 highway has become a major artery for drug traffic that finds its way from mexico through l.a., san francisco, portland, and seattle. >> give kisses. i bet you like that, huh? oh, yeah, i'll come home and everything. what's going on?

is it open yet? >> no. tomorrow. >> can i come in? i'm going a store to cash in all my change for bills. and then i'm going to go buy some drugs. there's one, two, going to outside-in clinic because it's a great clinic, they have a needle exchange there. >> portland is considered by many to be the heroin capital of the west coast. 2,100 addicts went into detox in a single portland clinic in 1998 alone. and while the city doesn't condone drug use it does support a controversial program to provide addicts with the needle exchange. the goal, to avoid the spread of hepatitis-c and aids among drug users. >> what would you do if it weren't for this exchange program? >> probably be stuck using dirty needles.

>> at outside-in, over 250,000 needles were exchanged in 1999. outside-in is one of four city agencies that offer services to the city's homeless youth population. kathy oliver is the director. >> in 1989, we started one of the first needle exchange programs in the country. actually, bottom line it comes down to the fact that drug users who are not in treatment who are active users are pretty expendable in this society. >> for a long time i thought i had aids. i didn't care. i was using needles after friends of mine that had like hep-c. >> reporter: in 1999, the rate of hiv among homeless youth was estimated to be ten times that of the general population. >> i finally found out that it was a false positive that i didn't really have it. i was negative for hiv. so now i'm just like so careful. i don't share with anybody. i get new ones, you know.

hey, who's down there right now? >> sitting on the stairs right there? he doesn't have any coke. >> no, i'm just getting a piece of black. >> but don't bring those guys over, there they'll freak out. they're down there on the stairs right there. >> does he have good sized pieces? >> yeah. >> want me to bring you down there? >> please. can i get a 10 of chiba. do you guys have a piece? >> yeah. >> let me compare it to the size of this one? this one is tiny and i don't think it will get me well either. i have to go do this. so. >> do you want that? >> no. i just made a copy so they would let me use their bathroom. if i had waited much longer, i would have felt like crap, i would have felt pretty bad. >> there's been a lot of evidence that portland is one of the west coast capitals of heroin, we have more deaths per capita than just about any city on the west coast.

>> as portland's elected city commissioner, eric is aware that his city has a reputation when it comes to heroin. >> there's pretty clear statistics that show heroin use in portland for whatever reason is way above national averages and it's hard to believe that's not hidden youth. >> i have something for you if you're sick. >> you can pet him if you want. yeah, he drinks out of the water fountain. >> now 18, emily says she's more comfortable out here on the street. but things are going to get complicated very soon. she hopes to leave portland and the streets before her baby is born. >> i don't really want my kid to be part of the society, to be like immersed in society. even though like we're on the outside of society, we're still a really big part of society. especially all these little sheep running around, all the yuppies and everything. that's one of like the biggest reason, i know it's a huge responsibility, but i just couldn't give my kid away to anybody. because i don't want my kid to one day be the person walking by to yell, "get a job," you know?

>> joel is the baby's father. despite the fact that emily is just weeks away from giving birth, the reality of having a baby is still sinking in. >> i've met girls who have had abortions and whatnot, but i never had a kid that's actually going to be there in my hands that's mine. >> he changes his mind every day. sometimes he's happy, sometimes he's like pissed off, it's just crazy. i think he'll like be happier with it once it actually comes out and he can hold it and see it and like touch it. >> i tried heroin like a couple of days ago for the first time. and it was lame. yeah, but when you're homeless anything helps. scared and homeless. >> jessie is 16 and comes from a middle class background. after failing ninth grade three times because of her drug problems, she struck out for the

road. >> cool. >> so far she's traveled 1,900 miles from her home in missouri with her boyfriend, but a few days ago, he left her abruptly. >> like before he left he gave me like this big hug and he was just like you're going to be okay. i know you're going to be okay, blah, blah, blah, that's not cool to do that to a person, to leave them by themselves. you know, i don't have a weapon, i don't have a dog. best part is that you don't get change you just get bills, but you can't do it in the city though or like downtown, you got to like go to a freeway exit. i hope we don't get any groceries. yeah, we had like four bags of groceries and we couldn't make any more money. i know that like i was really, i did some really -- things and made my parents go through a lot of hell but it was like their standards were like way too high.

i just wanted to do my own thing and like be my own person. is this 11th? my mom was just totally cool with supporting me and like the way i wanted to dress and you know the things that i wanted to do. but my dad is was just totally just like you have to do this and you have to do that. >> when we come back, we learn that street life is often violent and homeless kids are particularly at risk. >> kick me in the back with my broken ribs and kicked me in the head. [ man ] hmm. a lot can happen in two hundred thousand miles...

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how you doing? hey, donations? >> from missouri, montana, washington, colorado, and utah, the kids we found on the streets had come from rural western states. and oregon's open minded attitude has allowed both drug use and street life to thrive. >> i don't have bugs or anything. >> for many kids, the attraction is a low-grade heroin known as black tar, which is cheap and abundant on the streets of portland. >> i'm about to do some american heroin. >> for many runaway kids, life on the streets resembles the social order of high school. many different factions of street kids coexist in portland. these kids belong to a group called the portland street family. >> this is shorty. this is my baby.

my little pimp daddy. >> since the 1980s, the concept of the street family has become the codified social unit for many of portland's homeless kids, veterans of life on the streets, take the roles of street moms and street dads. >> there's a group of people out here which we call our family. we help each other out. if they need their ass whooped, we give them their ass whooping. >> michael belongs to the portland street family and has been living on the streets of portland for six years since he ran away from home. >> if someone screws up really really bad, we beat the -- out of him, take him up and sell him like if they owe us money or something but that's only like last resort. >> just moments after talking about his violent life on the street, michael walks around a corner and is attacked by another member of his own street family. >> he just kicked me in the back on my broken ribs and kicked me in the head.

>> passing by, chris lends a hand but hasn't much sympathy for members of the street family. >> see, this is your street family. they do things like this because someone cut someone's hair they're going to beat somebody up. >> there are four main agencies in the city of portland offering to help these kids. but 55 emergency beds are not even a drop in a bucket for an estimated 1500 homeless kids out on the street. >> i can barely breathe. >> you need to go to the hospital. >> i'm not going to the hospital. >> the street family does not make up the majority of teens on the streets of portland, most of the kids are squatters like emily, chris and jesse. they live a transient lifestyle and keep their distance from the street family. >> you guys wondering about street families? i bet these guys have a street family. who's your street dad? you guys have street moms and street dads. >> yeah, i do. this is my home. >> this is my sister, dude.

this is my best friend actually i came to the streets to live my own life where i don't have anybody telling me what to do. i'm my own person. >> those kids are a bunch of -- >> despite their differences, street families and transients have one thing in common -- drugs. >> i would say almost 100% of the kids are using drugs, and, in fact, we're seeing more injection drug use than we ever have. >> of the cities that track heroin deaths, portland had the highest per capita rate in 1999. >> i was going to quit here but you get so bored in this town, there's nothing to do. it's the same -- over and over again and you go and do it because there's so much around. >> in july of 2000, the drug abuse warning network reported an increase of heroin overdoses in most u.s. cities but not as dramatically as in seattle or portland. in 1998, members of portland's business community and concerned citizens formed an exploratory

group called the citizens crime commission to probe into the increasing number of homeless youths on their street. the commission concluded that they would provide youth with enough support and structure to get off the street. the business community raised funds and established a transitional housing program called new avenues for youth. >> the organization was heavily backed by the business community because they were concerned about the large number of kids that were in the street. >> ken cowdery has been the director of new avenues for youth for six months. >> in many cases, street kids have just blended into the streetscape and people don't see them anymore. the compassion and generosity demonstrated in this community is extraordinary. i've never really seen anything quite like it. >> where's the rave tonight? all right. see y'all later. >> officer thomas powell has been with the portland police department for five of his 14 years as a police officer. while officer powell holds

street kids accountable if they break the law, he does so with compassion. >> i'm going to use my office for correction and not take you to jail right now, okay? there was one kid who told another officer that if officer powell or officer mack and a few others were to be alone in o'brien square that they would surround him and attack him and beat him down. that was a threat that i took seriously. >> there's no point to fighting, dude. >> danger and death are something kids living on the street face every day. >> i've seen people get shot. you know, i've seen people get stabbed. but it was people that i didn't really know. >> but in 1999, 17-year-old alex ison known on the streets as "tomorrow" was murdered by a sexual predator. this incident left a deep scar on portland's homeless youth community, especially chris, alex's best friend. >> we cared a lot for each other. we did.

we knew each other for a few years, and we just you know, from the first time we met, we just clicked, you know? >> in the late 1990s, chris and alex were addicted to heroin. and like many of portland's homeless youth became prostitutes to support their habits. >> the night that she came up missing, i begged her not to go. i told her i would go pull a date, you know. because i knew something was going to happen. i knew something bad was going to happen. >> a few days after she was reported missing, alex's body was discovered strangled in a city park. >> i took her death really, really hard. like the most painful death i've ever had to experience. got to do it, man. i've been putting it off for way too long. >> it's been more than a year since alex's death. today, chris and his friend

regan have decided to visit her grave. >> what corner though? was it this corner or this one? did you find it? is it hers? >> yeah. >> that was the first time i actually met her. >> heroin addiction is often what makes the difference between being able to get off the street or not. once kids become dependent on shooting up several times a day their only goal becomes finding enough money to get that next fix. >> can you spare any change for a wanna-be rock star? >> when we come back, heroin and its hold on the street kids of portland.

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chris has been strung out on heroin for the last five years. to avoid getting sick from withdrawal, he panhandles at least $40 a day to support his habit. >> can you spare any change for a wanna-be rock star? >> in 1999, portland had the highest heroin death per capita in the united states. with over 1,500 kids a night on the city's doorstep, many use heroin to dull past pain and present boredom. >> hey, can you guys spare any change for some guitar lessons. i really need them, listen to how bad i suck. hey, man, can you do me a favor and like not piss there. if the cops drive by and see you with a beer they're going to stop. shut up. i just got to get away from that kid.

he's bugging me, man. hey, can you folks spare any change at all? have a nice night. i don't miss a lot of the stuff that happened to me were i was a kid, but a lot of times i do wish that i was still a kid. you know? things were happier back then. >> the backgrounds of portland's homeless kids are telling. 57% have been in foster care and 81% come from abusive families. according to data collected by new avenues for youth, a portland social service agency. >> what? hey, shut the -- up you little bitch. i'm serious. it all went downhill when my mom married my stepdad though really. cool, dinner.

spare any change at all, man? i was glad when i had my opportunity to leave, you know. it got me out of there. >> with limited funding and resources, portland is ill equipped to effectively assist and house the estimated 100 new homeless kids who enter their system each month. and the numbers of kids hitting the streets each year are increasing. >> but if you want to go inside a restaurant you got to go in the bag. >> it is your destiny, kitty, you must get in the bag. >> for homeless kids in portland, the laws are a baffling labyrinth, clean needles are legal, yet sleeping on the street is illegal. 18-year-old emily and her boyfriend joel have been sleeping underneath a freeway overpass for a week now. >> excuse me, heroin addict. like the guys in the back of the truck. i was like, okay. >> we're famous heroin addicts.

>> i haven't shot dope since i found out i was pregnant at all, i don't want to be misrepresented. yeah i'm seven months pregnant, but i'm not a junkie. i want to drink but i can't because it makes me sick and i don't want to have a retard for a kid, that would just suck really bad. >> despite being out on the street, emily has had access to prenatal care for her baby at the outside-in clinic in portland. >> i'm just going to go in for my checkup. i already got a sonogram done. i mean i think they're cool as hell. i'd be down for another one. because i just like to see the baby. they got to watch out for the blackberries, because they're sharp. i gotta pee. oh, stepped on the blanket. i'll have to tie him up. >> i want some of that so it at least smells good. i can smell it from here.

>> essential oils, aromatherapy. >> can i tie my cat to your bag? he won't do anything, i just don't want him around the dog. >> when we come back, chris tries to shake his addiction. he's tried before but withdrawal sickness has gotten the best of him. >> it sneaks into your life and finds a way to become the center of it. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back.

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you will find runaway teens in every major city in america, but in portland, oregon, the estimated 1,500 kids who call the street home have become an accepted part of the community. runaways gravitate to this city because of cheap heroin and the open minded attitude of drug use and street life. is the environment a little too accepting, too comfortable for hundreds of teens in desperate need of structure, accountability and guidance? >> can you spare any change? that's okay. people look down on you because you smell bad, your hair is all nappy and it's just like i come from the earth. i don't come from a store, you know. >> 16-year-old jessie has been

alone in portland for one week since her boyfriend left her. while she feels lonely without him, she has no problem surviving on her own. >> getting cigarette butts so i can roll a cigarette? hey, do you guys want a paper? yeah. >> today she's found a lucrative spot to panhandle. >> it's like right up there where the flashing signs are. people go in there all uptight and they come out, and they're all, "here's five bucks." this strip club is nasty though. i haven't been inside of it yet but every time people come out people are like "oh my god, that's disgusting." another thing about portland is everybody is doped up on heroin. it's like i feel like i'm the only person that's not -- slamming drugs or some -- like that. can you spare any change? that's okay. i should be -- you shouldn't be going into a strip club, buddy.

perv. i used to have a knife but i traded it for some pot. i got some mace now though. i found some. i'll show it to you. i found some mace like in our squat, not like in our squat, but out in the woods and stuff. or not in the wood, but like in the bushes. yeah. >> can you get someone? >> hey, can you spare any change? that's okay. like sitting outside of here, perverts walk out thinking i'm a prostitute or something like that. it's just like get down the -- road, man, i'm not for sale. >> can you spare any change at all? >> let ralph debate. let ralph debate. i'll vote for ralph if you spare some change. >> let ralph debate.

>> it's been 14 hours since chris has used heroin and he's beginning to suffer from withdrawal. >> can you spare any change, folks? i can hear it. spare any change at all? please. spare any change at all, ma'am? have a nice night. i'm dope-sick. my teeth hurt really bad. spare any change at all? >> i'm sorry. >> feeling like mugging somebody. >> have you ever done that? >> no. i don't think i ever would either. i need to make $25 so i can get well tonight so i can sleep. so i can have something for the morning. spare any change, man? >> do you ever want to step outside of yourself and take control again? >> yeah.

all the time. all the time. even when i try it, it doesn't work. hey, man, you got an extra smoke? >> yeah. >> hey, watch out for the dog. >> yeah, i'm dope-sick, kicking heroin. i've been throwing up all day. i'm not going to commit to it because every time i say i'm not going back to it i always do. so whatever happens, you know? >> like i had this dream about being white trash or something last night. it was really weird, like all these weird white trash people everywhere and like this really dirty white trash house. and like it was just weird. i didn't like it at all. i got scared when i woke up, i was like no, i'm not going to be white trash. >> emily's boyfriend joel is

hopping a freight train to northern california. emily will join him in a few days. >> yeah, pretty much i'm going to go hop a train back home for a minute and see my folks. >> emily's not going. >> in a couple days. she can't hop a train, you know, being pregnant and all. >> i'm going to get like 50 bucks and get a bus ticket. emily's sister amber is also in portland. amber was arrested for heroin possession shortly after arriving a week ago. emily will remain here until amber gets out of jail. >> yeah, she hasn't gotten out of jail yet. >> i don't know why she's still in jail. >> they may want to keep her in holding until she's detoxed. >> while saving up money and buying a van and traveling around in a van. i actually do have a lot of clothes but i don't ever change my clothes. >> where do you keep them? >> in my pack. >> jessie has been in portland for a week and she's a little homesick. today she has decided to call her mom in missouri. >> no change from you today,

fountain, huh? >> jessie says she left home to escape a strict father and ran away after she got out of rehab. she's been struggling with cocaine addiction. and has tried heroin since arriving in portland but she still calls home several times a week to assure her mom that she is alive and well. >> hey. what's going on? if you're sitting up against a building like the cops will come like move and you're like -- and sit on the other side of the sidewalk because they can't -- you there. i kind of miss that, her crawling in my bed at night. i'd always be like, yeah, you can come snuggle with me. all right, i love you. bye. i'm going to stop calling her as much because like she doesn't sound as surprised to hear from me. and i like it when someone is surprised to see me or hear from me. i think she's come to an understanding that this is what i'm going to do, this is how i'm living, you know, i tell her what i do, i don't hide anything

from her. i'll tell her that, "oh, yeah, i was so drunk and i stabbed some guy in the face" or something, you know. and she was just like, "oh, my god." it's just like the other, other party. >> what kind of party? >> chris lasted almost 24 hours without using heroin before withdrawal got the best of him. too physically ill to panhandle, he pawned his $175 squire electric guitar for $50. >> it just sneaks into your life and finds a way to become the center of it. you know, it's like it's got a mind of its own, you know. >> when we come back, powell goes out on patrol at night. >> are you clothed? >> trying to keep a line of communication open between the kids on the street, and the law. >> well, you know. >> what did you get arrested for? [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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how come the cops can park on the sidewalk and we can't? >> because they're cops, that's why. >> but they're not above the law. >> portland, oregon, is very tolerant of its homeless youth population. the sight of masses of panhandling street kids throughout the downtown is commonplace. but for officer thomas powell who spends most of his time dealing with homeless kids, accountability seems be to the only effective policy.

>> i don't relish it or get any gratification out of arresting these kids but sometimes it's the only accountability they have in their life. i'll be out in the square. this is what we call portland's living room. it was their friend. >> another kid on the street. >> who? >> shaggy, goes by the name of shaggy. >> shaggy o.d.'d, gosh. heroin, man. i don't see long term, some kids die out here, some kids move on. i have had a couple of people that i've dealt with and interacted with and said hey, officer powell, i didn't recognize them, no idea who they were, they were clean, clean and sober. 2856, i'm going to be checking on a guy at northwest 15th dead ends and davis. somebody's bed, pillow and sleeping bag. it's a cooker for heroin and

that might have been what he was doing right there because it looks like there's some heroin still in there. don't want to pick that up without gloves on, but yeah, see how they burned it on the bottom and they cook up their heroin there. they didn't want nothing do with me, took off. >> it is illegal to camp within portland's city limits. officer powell routinely checks out popular squatting areas looking for trespassers and kids with outstanding warrants. >> there's pants. >> are those adidas? >> are you clothed? >> no. >> can you get clothed for us? >> yeah. >> okay. they're naked, so we'll give them the courtesy of putting their clothes back on. >> my name is pixie by the way. >> pixie? >> yes. >> what's your name? >> i don't know. >> filthy?

>> yeah, filthy. >> what happened to your arm right there. >> i was a little self-destructive when i was younger. >> i guess. what did you cut yourself with? >> everything from razor blades to broken glass. >> oh, dude. anybody else down there tonight? >> no, i don't know. >> doesn't look like anybody else is in there. well, yeah, maybe there is. you look in there you see the discarded paint cans and beer and bottles of this alcohol or that alcohol. probably see a lot of needles in there, too, this is a really popular place for the street kids to come and sleep. >> did you hear about the guy that died? >> was it shaggy who o.d.'d? did he die today? >> what was his real name? >> his street name was shaggy. i don't know what his real name is. i never had any cause to arrest him. >> yeah. >> i didn't know he did heroin.

>> if you guys are going to sleep down here? >> yeah. >> if odot comes down here, the department of transportation they might call us and we might have to arrest you because you'll be trespassing, okay? we'll get out of your business. you guys be safe out here, all right? don't cut your arms anymore. >> i haven't for years, bro. >> i want to have like a point to my life, something to do. if i had my own like commune, i could like make stuff and grow my own garden so i would have my own food and like have a cow and a chicken or a few chickens and like a goat. >> you're going have a baby. >> yeah and a baby. i know, i know. i know i can't be out here and there's no way my baby can be out here. i would just like feel like crap. if i saw somebody else with a baby out here, i would think they deserved to get their ass kicked.

>> emily has been alone in portland for a week, since her boyfriend joel hopped a freight train to california. >> everything else, man, i want to get out of here. thank you very much, have a nice day. >> she remained behind in portland because her sister amber was in jail for heroin possession. today, after serving a ten-day sentence, amber was released. >> i hadn't it done it for five days when i went and did it and got caught. >> somebody gave me five bucks. >> amber says she is uncertain if she will remain in portland awaiting her trial, but emily still plans on leaving as soon as she panhandles enough money for a bus ticket to meet up with her boyfriend joel in california. >> that's cool. she just gave you 20 bucks? >> yeah, i'm stoked, i'm even closer. now i am $25 away. >> when we come back, portland struggles with its burgeoning homeless population, while the kids we're following face an uncertain future.

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it's been just three weeks since we arrived in portland. chris has tried and failed to kick his heroin habit. jessie has tried heroin for the first time. and emily, who's clean, is worried that authorities will try to take her baby away. >> i don't know what the hell they're doing. the social workers, trying to

get up everybody else's business. like my sister said, they're all about taking people's kids away here. they practically like sell babies at adoption agencies, you got to pay so much money to get a newborn and nobody is getting their claws on my kid. >> today emily has decided to leave portland and find a safe place to have her baby. >> i know if i come back through, i'm not stay staying for more than a day and it will probably be in a motel. souvenir from portland. part of the train. and they make pretty good weapons, if you have to use them. >> today was a really boring day. >> what did you do today? >> nothing. just sat on my ass and thought about panhandling. >> jessie has been in portland for more than a month now and her homeless adventure is beginning to grow old. >> i think it's funny like when you're walking around with a

pack and all the yuppies are like, so, you're going camping? yeah. >> often bored and alone, she debates whether or not to return to missouri. she has used heroin several times. >> i did some heroin like three days ago. >> how was it? >> it was all right. it wasn't like ooh, you know, give me heroin. >> a lot of them get assimilated into the whole victimization culture, so to speak, where they're constantly being told they're a victim. there truly are some kids out here that need to be helped. and there are some kids out here who are making really bad choices. >> i wouldn't stay here. i'd get enough money for a bus ticket somewhere.

like go back to missouri or something. >> back home? >> yeah. home. it's so boring today, i just want to drink some beer or something. >> jessie remained in portland for a month and began using heroin frequently. eventually, she became homesick and returned to missouri where she resides with her parents. she also has a full-time job at a fast-food restaurant. chris says he's ready to escape the streets. but he may not have the support system to make it out. >> spare any change at all, sir? like if i wake up tomorrow and i'm not feeling that bad, i'm not going to use tomorrow. like what i have, i'll give to my friends who are strung out, i'll give it to them, tell them they can have it, but if i'm really feeling bad, i'm going to do it. >> chris feels that the death of his friend alex has been the

biggest catalyst for change in his life. despite the many tragedies he has witnessed, he remains hopeful that will he overcome his addiction and plans to get off the streets. >> i really am sick and tired of caring about my friends dying, you know? and just going through the pain of that it was like i've almost run out of tears. it's really hard for me to cry now over friends that's dead because i've had it happen so many times. i don't know if i can take it anymore. spare any change at all, sir? have a nice day. >> a lot of these kids are having great difficulty coping personally to develop any kind of personal relationship really with anybody. i think when the general population looks at these kids, they tend to think that they're all alike and they're not. >> bye. >> have fun. bye. oh, you stink.

>> today, emily is finally leaving portland. >> i'll miss you, buddy. >> it has taken her less than a day to panhandle $50 for a bus ticket to california. for a bus ticket to california. >> i'm so glad i'm leaving. the happiest day of my life, not really, but pretty close. thank you. >> scratch harders. scratch your nails. yeah. >> reporter: for emily's sister amber and her friend john, leaving portland is no easy feat. the lure of heroin has once again delayed their travel plans. >> you know, all that money we had for, yeah, all that money we had for the bus, well me and amber got bored and we blew it all on heroin. we sort of -- up right there. i don't know why i did that. but it's pretty dumb. i feel like a moron. >> time to go. let me grab my stuff.

well, i'm glad i'm finally leaving this place. i thought it would never happen. catch you later.♪ >> in 1999, an estimated 1,200 homeless kids between the ages of 13 and 21 received social services in portland, oregon, with about 100 new street kids arriving each month. helping them get off the streets and back on track for good has become a top priority for the city. that's our report. thanks for up watching, i'm john seigenthaler.