Runaway and Homeless Youth

Ask any five grantees of the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s Transitional Living Program (TLP) how they collaborate with the Children’s Bureau’s Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) and you may get five completely different answers.    Why? Because they all know this important fact:  By working together, programs can improve outcomes for the youth...
When young people seek help from an emergency shelter funded by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), nearly 9 times out of 10 they cite “family dynamics” among the reasons they left home. The term can indicate many kinds of conflict—arguing with parents or a step parent, not getting along with a sibling—but for many young people it reflects an atmosphere of...
Every once in a while, crisis counselor and therapist Adam Kleinmeulman sees the signs of abuse literally written out on a runaway youth’s body. The message might appear in block letters drawn with permanent marker on the youth’s skin, clothes, or backpack: “I’m homeless. My dad beats me.”
When research revealed that almost one-third of homeless and runaway youth in Hollywood, California, were or had been in an abusive intimate relationship, Lisa de Gyarfas knew that something had to be done.
A young man describes how a street outreach worker gave his life meaning. Time: 11:45 | Size: 13.4 MB | Transcript  
“I’ve never felt so privileged as when I get to go up and just listen to stories of people living on the street, find out who they are, and get to know them,” street outreach worker Jasmine Pettet says.
Who is a street youth? A street youth is an unaccompanied young person who has no permanent place to stay and does not live with a parent or guardian. Street youth might sleep “on the street”—in a park, on the stoop of a store, under a bridge, in a car—or they might crash on a friend’s couch. In more rural areas, street outreach workers might find youth living...
It didn’t matter that the gun he waved at them was fake. Mary Jo Meuleners and her partner tried not to show their fear, sitting motionlessly on their park bench as the man, a crack addict, yelled and cussed. “Next time, this gun’ll be real, and I’m gonna [expletive] kill you!”
Syndicate content
National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth | 5515 Security Lane, Suite 800 | North Bethesda, MD 20852 | (301) 608-8098 | ncfy@acf.hhs.gov