Runaway and Homeless Youth

This resource provides technical assistance to runaway and homeless youth programs.

This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth highlights three studies that identify possible risk factors for criminal justice involvement among runaway and homeless youth, including substance use, length of time living on the streets, and childhood trauma history. 

This report, developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), summarizes FYSB efforts to combat youth homelessness, as well as data about the young people served by the agency’s programs and the services they received.

This report to Congress documents the activities and accomplishments for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 of three programs authorized by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. The three programs are the Basic Center, Transitional Living, and Street Outreach. The report also describes the related network of support — including the National Communications System; the monitoring system; and other coordinating, training, and research activities. 

In November, NCFY asked readers to use their blogs to spread awareness of youth homelessness. Read some of the highlights from these posts on topics like adapting programs, meeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, and educating community decision-makers. 

In this interview with NCFY, Robin Petering a researcher at the University of Southern California School of Social work discusses the reasons some homeless youth become involved in gangs, addressing young people’s involvement i

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.

This podcast from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth features Gina, a youth advocate for runaway and homeless youth issues, who has attended many statewide and national conferences. Gina shares her thoughts on what makes a successful youth advocate and how adults can support young people in becoming advocates.

This resource from the National Runaway Safeline provides ideas and resources for individuals, organizations, and communities that are planning activities related to National Runaway Prevention Month. 

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness  released the 2012 Amendment to Opening Doors, the comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, that specifically addresses strategies for improving the educational outcomes for children and youth, and the steps that need to be taken to advance the goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020.