As hard as it is for homeless adults, teens who live on the streets face even greater challenges. Runaway teenagers enter a world that’s filled with uncertainty, danger, and a limited ability to earn a living or provide for basic necessities. Each teen’s situation is different and so are their respective needs. Programs for homeless and runaway youth are designed to provide the level of support and services needed to help teens find safe and secure living conditions as well as help for the family, when possible.
Homeless and Runaway Youth – A Brief History
It may come as a surprise to hear that homelessness among youth in the United States has been around almost as long as the United States has. In the late 1700s, when settlers started heading west, more than a few adolescents struck out on their own in hopes of making a life for themselves. By the 1800s, teenage homelessness became widespread among the poor immigrant youths whose families could no longer afford to take care of them.
Today, the need for programs for homeless and runaway youth has never been greater. Fortunately, more than a few agencies and organizations have stepped up to help. Each teen’s experience is unique so there’s no one-size-fits-all program that works for everyone. If you’re a teen in need of assistance, it may help to get a better idea of what types of services can best meet your needs. The same goes for adults or friends trying to find help for someone you know.
Rates of Homeless and Runaway Youth
Youth runaway programs and teen homeless shelters face an ongoing challenge in meeting the needs of homeless and runaway youth. Youth who lack parental supervision, basic necessities, and money to live on include preteens as well as teenagers, many of whom are forced to create families of their own on the streets.
Here are just a few statistics to keep in mind:
An estimated 1.6 million to 2.8 million teens run away each year
Out of this number, 7,564 teens were acting as parents to younger, homeless children
Children under the age of 18 make up 11 percent of the population of runaways and homeless youth
Compared to homeless adults, young people are 50 percent more likely to lack access to shelter
Situations That Drive Teenage Homelessness
Family Dysfunction
The family unit is a child’s first and primary context for determining how he or she will interact in the world. When this unit breaks down, risk factors of all kinds take shape during the course of a child’s development. More often than not, extreme risk factors drive a child to the point of running away. High rates of physical abuse and sexual abuse in the home, emotional neglect, and overall poor parenting represent the most common reasons for teens leaving the family home.
An article appearing in the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal compared how adolescents who ran away and their parents viewed the family home environment. Amazingly, 89 percent of the parents interviewed blamed the child for running away, taking no responsibility at all while a majority of the adolescents interviewed blamed themselves for problems in the home. Since communication breakdowns tend to run rampant in a dysfunctional home, many programs for homeless and runaway youth make it a top priority to get any existing family involved and engaged in a teen’s recovery.
Problems at School
Family dysfunction tends to have ripple effects in a child’s life and problems at school are common when problems at home start to take a toll on a child’s ability to cope with daily life. More than a few homeless and runaway teens experience a loss of interest in school and become disengaged from their peers at school. A recent study of over 15,000 records from teen homeless shelters and youth runaway shelters showed as many as 47 percent of these teens had spotty school attendance with 22 percent dropping out altogether.
Mental Health & Substance Abuse Issues
Teenagers are not immune to mental health problems, especially teens who live in oppressive or abusive home environments. While mental illness can run in families, stressful living conditions and destructive relationships create prime conditions for depression to take root, particularly in the young whose sense of self and identity is still developing. For these reasons and others, anywhere from 19 to 50 percent of homeless teenagers struggle with depression-based disorders.
The stress and pressure that comes with family dysfunction and mental health issues also leave teens highly susceptible to alcohol and drug abuse. This is especially true for homeless teens. Like adults, many teens turn to substance abuse as a means to escape from the hard realities of daily life. In turn, alcohol and drug-using behaviors can serve the same purpose for teens who run away from home with an estimated two-thirds of homeless teenagers engaging in substance abuse on an ongoing basis.
Alternative Lifestyles
Despite our country’s growing acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lifestyles, not everyone condones this way of life. A teen being rejected by his or her family on the basis of identity issues takes family dysfunction to a whole new level. This experience coupled with attacks from peers can easily box teenagers into a corner.
While the foster care system is designed to provide at-risk youth with healthy living environments, not all foster care placements are a good fit. Children and teens who come from abusive home environments require considerably more patience, attention, and care and not all foster parents can meet their needs. In turn, foster care children and teens may run away from these homes just like they ran away from their family home. The same goes for teens placed in group home environments, especially teens aged 15 and older who have the highest risk of running away.
Daily Challenges Homeless Teenagers Face
Teenagers, in general, typically don’t have the maturity and know-how it takes to earn a living, obtain housing, and manage a household on their own. For teens who’ve run away from dysfunctional home environments, it’s even more difficult to successfully integrate into modern society.
On top of their young age and lack of work experience, a teen’s ability to interact and communicate with the outside world is shaped by the home environment from which he or she ran away. Under these conditions, homeless and runaway teens face incredible challenges trying to survive on their own.
Sunshine Behavioral Health strives to help people who are facing substance abuse, addiction, mental health disorders, or a combination of these conditions. It does this by providing compassionate care and evidence-based content that addresses health, treatment, and recovery.
Licensed medical professionals review material we publish on our site. The material is not a substitute for qualified medical diagnoses, treatment, or advice. It should not be used to replace the suggestions of your personal physician or other health care professionals.
