Runaway and Homeless Youth

As evening call center supervisor at the National Runaway Switchboard, Diana Delia talks, emails or online chats with hundreds of teens and parents each year. She hears it all: Parents who don’t know where to turn to find a child who has run away, abused youth with nowhere to go.
When young people are homeless and still in school, the cafeteria may be their most reliable source of nutritious meals.
For most adolescents, online social networking is another way to talk to the friends and family that they see every day. But for runaway and homeless youth, texting, Facebook and other social media can be important ways to stay in touch with friends and family who are slipping away just when they are most needed.
We've been marking National Domestic Violence and National Bullying Awareness Months this October. Many homeless youth have experienced all sorts of violence, and programs that serve them are responding by using "trauma-informed" approaches.
If you belong to a continuum of care funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to serve the homeless in a particular geographic area, you may have already seen the new guidelines for your next “point-in-time count” of persons experiencing homelessness.
When Marguerita Lightfoot and her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles set about to study ways to keep runaway and homeless youth from having risky sex and using drugs, they intended to enlist youth in a randomized controlled trial.
“Poor Parenting and Antisocial Behavior Among Homeless Young Adults: Links to Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization” (abstract). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 27, No. 7 (May, 2012).
The new Family and Youth Services Bureau website has officially launched!  The site is full of information and resources about FYSB and its grant programs, and new material is being added all the time. You’ll find:
When the economy soured in 2008, Barbara Mueth knew she couldn’t be complacent. As chair of the board for reStart Inc., which serves the homeless of Kansas City, MO, she watched as the need for services increased while giving to the organization held steady.
The Administration for Children and Families is accepting applications for programs that offer an array of support services to help low-income individuals and families become economically self-sufficient. Learn more about this opportunity.
Syndicate content
National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth | 5515 Security Lane, Suite 800 | North Bethesda, MD 20852 | (301) 608-8098 | ncfy@acf.hhs.gov