27 1 / 2012

Lilly Earp, 8, hugs her five-week-old sister  Emily in their apartment at Hope Gardens Family Center, a shelter for  homeless women and children, run by Union Rescue Mission on 77 acres  (0.31 square km) of countryside away from Skid Row, on the outskirts of  Los Angeles, California January 25, 2012. One in 45 children, totaling  1.6 million, is homeless, the highest number in United States’ history,  according to a 2011 study by the National Center on Family Homelessness.  California is ranked the fifth highest state in the nation for its  percentage of homeless children.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Lilly Earp, 8, hugs her five-week-old sister Emily in their apartment at Hope Gardens Family Center, a shelter for homeless women and children, run by Union Rescue Mission on 77 acres (0.31 square km) of countryside away from Skid Row, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California January 25, 2012. One in 45 children, totaling 1.6 million, is homeless, the highest number in United States’ history, according to a 2011 study by the National Center on Family Homelessness. California is ranked the fifth highest state in the nation for its percentage of homeless children. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson