What Are the Causes of Teenage Homelessness?
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Child Abuse
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History of early childhood trauma, mental, sexual and physical abuse, occurring in mostly broken homes, is by far the most common trait found among the teenage homeless. These teens trade home environments of alcohol and drug abuse, mixed with crime, poverty and violence for similar conditions on the streets. The accompanying graph shows the correlation between sexual abuse and the victim's abuse of themselves.
Throwaways
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The teenage homeless who are forced out of their homes due to reasons such as unruliness, lack of resources, parental or sibling conflicts, self-injurious behavior or criminal behavior are called throwaways, because they were "thrown away" by their parents. The factors leading to teenage homelessness mentioned above still apply, with the added forced removal from the home or family environment.
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Runaways
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Runaways, as opposed to throwaways, leave by choice. Many teenage homeless have run away from child protective services or foster homes after being forced to leave home by court order. Courts will remove a child from a home either for his own actions or, more commonly, the actions of the adults living in that home environment.
Street Teens
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Street teens are more vulnerable to venereal disease and disease in general as they are far more likely to engage in prostitution as a means of survival, according to a Stanford University study conducted in 1991. Many street teenage homeless hold a fear of institutional assistance that may result in being returned to the home environment they left or being placed in the custodial care of a therapeutic foster home or group home.
Shelter Teens
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Shelter Teens do not have it much better statistically than the street teens; virtually all are sexually active and about half abuse drugs. But unlike the street teens, the shelter teens rarely ever resort to prostitution.
Prevention
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The prevention of teenage homelessness is a battle fought on two fronts. First, identify abuses early to apply intervention measures and attempt to strengthen the family unit. Second, laws requiring outreach facilities and social workers to notify families if homeless teens seek assistance need to be rewritten to allow for safe havens. Teenage homeless need to be able to receive medical treatment, psychotherapy and addiction intervention without fear of being returned to an abusive environment.
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Resources
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