OUR KIDS

When you look inside a dumpster, what do you expect to see? Trash, of course. What you don't expect to see in there is a kid. Unhappily, some kids are reduced to "dumpster-diving" in order to survive. Maybe they'll find the remains of an office-worker's lunch. Maybe they'll get lucky and locate some cans and bottles they can redeem for cash.

One such kid was Michael. Raised by an abusive grandfather, Michael finally couldn't stand it any longer and took off. He was 18. He lived rough for a while, then crashed with friends, only to be thrown back on the streets soon afterward. Rummaging through trash cans and dumpsters became a means of survival -- if you could call it that. Eventually, Michael became severely depressed and was admitted to a hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown.

Two weeks later, he was back on the street.