Last week we sent our Executive Director, Marylee Bates, to the The National Alliance to End Homelessness’ conference on Youth and Family Homelessness.  We learned a lot from the conference about the scope of youth homelessness in America, and strategies that work best to help homeless youth.

According to the 2002 National Incident Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children (NISMART II), around 1.7 million youth had a runaway or homelessness episode in 1999—the most recent year we have data for.  About 85 percent of these youth returned home in less than a week, without outside intervention.  The other 15 percent are what we are most concerned with—who are they and what happens to them?

We know that in Alaska there are several thousand youth each year identified as runaway or homeless. In Fairbanks, between four- and six-hundred youth are identified by state troopers and/or the school district each year.  About 150 of those are runaways.  These numbers fail to capture youth not in school, youth who have been kicked out, or youth who are not reported as a runaway.  Estimates from Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption’s SOAP program put the number of homeless youth in Fairbanks above eight-hundred.  For a city of 50,000, that is an overwhelming number.

One thing we learned is that no one really knows how many homeless youth there are in the country. We know some numbers and we can estimate others – but the fact is that we can’t wait for the numbers before doing something to solve the problem. Because while those numbers are interesting, and they certainly help us build a picture of the problem locally and nationally –  we’re concerned with helping to solve that problem, not define it. We want to know what services work for homeless youth.

A topic that was frequently addressed at the NAEH Conference was the idea of rapid-rehousing for homeless youth – specifically with regards to family reunification.  Research shows that family conflict is the leading reason youth leave home – whether they’ve been kicked out or have run away.  Family reunification services, particularly when implemented rapidly – within 72 hours of leaving home – lead to a much higher likelihood of long-term stability. Family reunification is important.  Going home should be the goal in most situations, because the chance for success is greatest when youth are returned to their families.  But simply returning youth to a conflict-ridden home seldom solves the problem either: youth are much more likely to run away again – or be kicked out again – if that conflict is not addressed.

Our primary goal will always be to connect families and their teens, and to facilitate conflict resolution to prevent recurrent episodes.  For those where returning home is possible, we will work with the teen and his/her family to address the conflict at home, and continue to work with that family to ensure that the issues are addressed the family has resources to turn to in order to avoid the situation becoming repetative.