![]() ![]() It is our job to approach youth by valuing their skills and not getting ahead of them. Homeless youth have needs but they are wary service consumers. In truth, a meal is worth a stack of pamphlets. Handing a kid a pamphlet does not reach that level. In addition, youth want us to safely connect to them. This means we need to be comfortable with going out and visiting the youth where they physically are. ![]() ![]() Quality in this case reflects service providers who are willing to meet youth where they are both emotionally and physically. In fact, this study found youth preferred a quality drop-in center over shelter. While shelter has value, it is not a preferred service by the youth. The caveat is that housing first is a model that finds permanent housing and supports youth addressing their challenges once in housing, but this housing needs to be permanent as opposed to a shelter. Across the homeless literature the “housing first” model has been clearly shown to be a best practice this has also been found to be true for homeless youth. Experience has shown that one important service approach is to create services that are specifically for homeless youth.īuilding on the recommendation that services be specific to homeless youth, a range of services should be offered, all with a strong relational component. In my 36 years of working with youth, nothing is as true as the expression that “youth vote with their feet.” If youth have decided that they were not safe where they were, then it is incumbent on us to listen to them so they feel safe around us. This is predicated on believing that youth actually know what is good for them. We need to build safe relationships in which we deeply listen to the youth and don’t get ahead of them. What they need from providersĪs providers of services we need to be patient. This, takeaway number two, is about the importance of sticking with the youth, of not expecting them to smoothly transition into some type of full adult-like functioning because we offered them a service. More important than the factors driving homelessness in youth is how to deliver quality programming that meets their real and expressed needs.īefore diving into the specifics of any approach it is vital to note that how we are with the youth may be more important than what we do. The literature, which is extensive regarding these two groups, underscores the critical nature of homeless youth service providers to be able to value the lived reality of the youth. Special mention needs to be made of two subpopulations youth escaping the foster care system and LGBTQ youth. While I don’t favor using these terms, they do underscore the point that many homeless youth have become homeless because they feel it is better for them than where they were. The literature often uses terms such as “runaway” or “throwaway” as descriptors. They describe the forces that create this lack of safety as related to abuse, neglect, domestic violence, adult substance abuse, poverty, adult relational instability and related factors. That said, youth become homeless in large numbers because home was not seen as a safe place for them. Thus, one takeaway here is to meet homeless youth with a mindset that values their expertise. Before unpacking the leading drivers, it is vital to caution providers to reject descriptions of homeless youth as “victims” of harmful forces.Īs professors Erin Toolis and Phillip Hammack importantly remind us in their 2015 paper, most homeless youth do not see themselves as victims, quite the opposite they connect to their survival skills in the face of the external factors. There are a host of factors that have been found to drive homelessness in youth, as Adrienne Fernandes-Alcantara noted in her congressional report. ![]()
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