Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Don't Call Them Dropouts
A report from America’s Promise Alliance encourages readers to think differently about youth who have left school, suggesting a change in terminology, from “dropouts” to “nongraduates” or students who have had “interrupted enrollment.” As this article explains, youth voices are featured prominently in the report, which also highlights factors that influence students to leave school and the supports that can help them to return to and remain in school.
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)
FYSB supports the organizations and communities that work every day to reduce the risk of youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy and domestic violence. Learn more about FYSB programs.
FYSB: New Video
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides news and resources related to issues such as homelessness, adolescent pregnancy, and domestic violence. Watch FYSB's new video “The Family and Youth Services Bureau — Join Us” to learn more about FYSB work and programs.
Four Tips for Serving LGBTQ Young People in Rural Communities
This blog post addresses the unique challenges of serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in rural places. Written by the executive director of Tumbleweed Runaway Program in Billings, MT, it also suggests how youth-serving professionals in rural areas can make their services and communities welcoming to all young people.
Five Things to Know About Teen Parents and How to Help Them
This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth provides an overview of the information gathered from the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy’s survey of 4,439 pregnant and parenting teens, illustrating the challenges faced by teen parents and the factors that promote their resilience.
How Are the Lives of LGBTQ Youth Improved by Gay-Straight Alliances?
This article, featured by the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth, discusses a recent study released in the School Social Work Journal that compared 284 lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning (LGBTQ) youth in schools with gay-straight alliances with LGBTQ students in schools without those alliances to discern whether the presence of such organizations improved outcomes for young people. The study suggests that membership in a gay-straight alliance has some positive effects on LGBTQ youth, but more research is necessary.
Introduction to Positive Youth Development
The National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth has recently updated its two-part, self-paced online training, “Introduction to Positive Youth Development.” The modules focus on explaining the concepts and theories of positive youth development, and how this information can be put into practice.
Learn More About Positive Youth Development
Learn more about Positive Youth Development with this resource by RHY. Positive Youth Development (PYD) 101 Online is a series of short courses intended to introduce PYD to new youth work professionals, volunteers, and advocates.
Mental Health: The First Step to Well Being
This collection of articles from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth analyzes some of the most prominent mental health issues facing at-risk youth in order to provide youth workers with insight into the prevention and treatment of mental health challenges. Post-traumatic stress disorder, the risks and uses of psychotropic medications, and postpartum depression in teen mothers are discussed.
NCFY Voices: The Youth Dreamers Think Big
Two young people from Youth Dreamers share how they raised money to build a safe place for youth in their community to go after school. Youth Dreamers is a youth leadership group in Baltimore, MD.
Online Sexual Health Resources
The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth released this list of recommended resources on sexually transmitted diseases, including information geared specifically to teens and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.
Primary Sources: Learning How Service Providers and Policy Makers Can Help LGBTQ Homeless Youth
This article provides information about a research review that aimed to determine directions for research, public policy, and practice related to serving homeless youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning. The article also includes potential implications of the research for policies and practices of youth-serving organizations. Researchers at Harvard Medical School conducted the research review.
Q&A: Meeting the Needs of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth
The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth published this Q&A with Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, featuring tips for working specifically with transgender and gender non-conforming youth.
Q&A: Helping Families Protect Themselves From Recurring Trauma
Produced by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, this interview with Laurel Kiser, of the University of Maryland’s Family-Informed Trauma Treatment Center, discusses the potential negative effects of anticipatory stress and highlights Strengthening Family Coping Resources, a multi-week program that Kiser and her colleagues facilitate that helps families deal with recurring stressors.
Putting Positive Youth Development Into Practice: A Resource Guide
This guide provides information about how you can put positive youth development principles into practice
Resources for Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth
The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides a list of resources for those serving LGBT youth including helpful publications and LGBT-youth focused organizations.
The Equal Access to Housing Rule and Youth
This Q&A from the Department of Health and Human Services explains how the federal rule, “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity,” will benefit youth.
Teen Childbearing in Rural America
This slideshow presents some of the highlights from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s research brief, “Teen Childbearing in Rural America,” which compares teen childbearing in rural, suburban, and urban areas of the United States.
Trauma and the Teen Brain
The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth conducted an interview that educates readers about the effect that trauma can have on teen brain development. Research suggests that the brains of teens who experience homelessness or abuse can develop differently than the brains of their peers who grow up in safe and supportive homes.
Voices from the Field: LGBT-Friendly Teen Pregnancy Prevention
This podcast by the National Clearinghouse on Youth and Families (NCFY) features program coordinator at the Bristol HUB Youth Center in Vermont, Ryan Krushenick, who leads a popular teen pregnancy prevention curriculum tailored to be welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. He talks to NCFY how to practice inclusive teen pregnancy prevention work.
Voices from the Field: Why People Take Risks
This podcast features Dr. Carl Lejuez of the University of Maryland discussing his research on risk taking and the implications of his findings for traumatized youth.
What Promotes Resilience Among Alaska Native Youth?
This article describes the findings of a recent study that looked at the everyday struggles of Alaska Native teens and how they have dealt with these challenges. The authors of the study found that the means through which Alaska Native youth found strength during difficult times, such as helping their families and giving back to their communities, reflect unique cultural values and provide insight into how providers can promote health among this population.
Youth Workers: When Did You Make the Biggest Difference in a Youth’s Life?
In the first of a new video series from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth (NFCY) that asks youth workers to discuss the impact they have had on the lives of youth, Linda Mascarenas of Family and Youth Services in Stockton, CA, talks about a teen mother who became a paid employee of her youth program.
Improving Attachment Between Mothers and Children
This article describes a recent study on whether new mothers dealing with past trauma would be able to develop an attachment to their babies. If the mothers could develop an attachment, the study examined if addressing the mother’s issue would help with bonding. The results show that all the mothers in the study who were dealing with past trauma had trouble bonding with others and over 75% of the mothers with unresolved trauma had insecurely attached infants. The researchers found that being in the process of dealing with past trauma can help mothers form secure bonds with their children, despite the mothers themselves having difficulty attaching to others around them.
NCFY Voices: Does It Get Better for LGBTQ Teens?
In this podcast, Michelle Birkett, a researcher at Northwestern University's Feinburg School of Medicine, describes a study she co-authored on the mental health and victimization of LBGTQ youth and how it progresses over time.