Unaccompanied and Homeless Youth

[Glenda H. Eoyang]

CBCAP leads and others are focusing on the maltreatment prevention needs of unaccompanied and homeless youth. 

The McKinney-Vento Act defines unaccompanied homeless youth as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.  The term includes children and youth who:

• Share the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason
• Live in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations
• Live in emergency or transitional shelters
• Were abandoned in hospitals
• Are awaiting foster care placement
• Have a primary nighttime residence that is a place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
• Live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings

This discussion includes resources, ideas, and discussions to help meet the needs of this hard-to-serve population.  Please join the conversation. 

[Glenda H. Eoyang]

John Vogel has identified some resources that help to define and support services for unaccompanied and homeless youth.  The list will continue to grow.  Do you have others to add? 

Administration for Children, Youth and Families, Washington, DC. Family and Youth Services Bureau. “A Guide to Enhancing the Cultural Competence of Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs.” (1994)

Coco, EL. “A Family Systems Approach for Preventing Adolescent Runaway Behavior.” Adolescence 33.130 (1998): p. 485-96. Print.

Howard, BJ. “The Pediatrician’s Role in the Prevention of Missing Children.” Pediatrics 114.4 (2004): 1100-5. Print.

Nabors, Laura. “School-Based Mental Health Prevention Activities for Homeless and At-Risk Youth.” Child & Youth Care Forum 30.1 (2001): 3-18. Print.

National Network for Youth. Prevention - A Positive Process - A Strategy Paper on Prevention Services, ... 1978.

Rice, Eric. “Social Networking Technology, Social Network Composition, and Reductions in Substance Use Among Homeless Adolescents.” Prevention Science 12.1 (2011): 80-88. Print.

Rohr, Michael E., and Richard James. “Runaways: Some Suggestions for Prevention, Coordinating Services, and Expediting the Reentry..” School Counselor 42.1 (1994): 40. Print.

Rohr, Michael E. “Runaways: Some Suggestions for Prevention, Coordinating Services, and Exped...” School Counselor 42.1 (1994): p. 40-48. Print.

 

[Glenda H. Eoyang]

The FRIENDS National Advisory Network contributed some promising resources to this discussion, including:

• www.RHYTTAC.ou.edu T/TA for programs in support of runaway and homeless youth
• http://www.newavenues.org/ resources for runaway and homeless youth
• CWLA program on GLBT youth—stay tuned
• http://www.oasiscenter.org/ example program with youth advisory panel
• http://www.truechild.org Think-tank in support of children with GLBT issues
• Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act 2008
• http://video.pbs.org/video/2186643629 information about challenges of GLBT youth