Children and teens struggling to survive on the streets share common reasons for leaving home and risk similar dangers.

Children in homes where emotional or physical abuse between adult partners, parental substance abuse, and/or child abuse or neglect exists are disproportionately represented among runaway youth (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1997).

•
Disruptive family conditions are the main reason that young people leave home, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH Fact Sheet #11, April 1999).

•
A 1997 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that "46% of runaway and homeless youth had been physically abused and 17% had been forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or household member."

Every year, assault, illness, and suicide claim the lives of approximately 5,000 runaway and homeless youth (The National Runaway Switchboard, The National Runaway Prevention Curriculum, 2001).

•
According to a 1995 Family and Youth Services Bureau Report, 35% of runaway and homeless youth had used drugs; 40% live in poverty; 26% have attempted suicide; 47% were kicked out of their home; 33% were assaulted and/or robbed on the streets; 66% had trouble meeting basic needs away from home; and 80% had attempted or committed a theft-related activity.

•
While homeless, youth often suffer from poor hygiene, lack of sleep, high exposure to violence (both as victims and witnesses) and difficult weather conditions, which can result in a variety of medical problems.

•
Some runaway and homeless youth turn to exchanging sex for basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, or protection, increasing their risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.

•
Other common threats to runaway and homeless youth include depression, thoughts of suicide, other serious mental health problems, and high rates of intravenous drug use.

One in every seven youth will run away from home by the age of 18 (The National Runaway Switchboard, 2001).

•
Every day, 1.3 million runaway and homeless teens live on America's streets (ibid.).

•
In 1999, more than one-fifth of an estimated 1,682,900 children who ran away from home or were thrown out by their caregivers had been physically or sexually abused at home in the prior year or was afraid of being harmed if they returned (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics, October 2002).

•
Some 15,000 kids live on the streets of Los Angeles. More than a third of these youth are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender – many homeless because of their sexual orientation (Gomez, J. "Homelessness Among Gay Youth on the Rise," Vanguard, Summer 2002).

•
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adolescents appear to be at higher risk for physical and sexual abuse, substance abuse, and mental health problems while on the streets than their heterosexual peers, according to a recent study of homeless Seattle teens ("Street Life Ups Drug, Sex Abuse for Gay Youth," Reuters.Com, May 13, 2002).

•
A Los Angeles Task Force on Runaway and Homeless Youth report states that about 25% of homeless youth are street kids with no permanent adult support.

•
Allowing one youth to leave high school for a life of crime and drug abuse costs society $1.7-$2.3 million across that individual's lifetime (National Center for Juvenile Justice, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 Report).

•
For every dollar invested in a child, there is a seven-dollar return for society (Annan, K., United Nations Secretary-General address to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children, May 2001).

•
In Los Angeles County, an estimated 45% of youth who "age out" of the foster care system each year will be emancipated directly onto the streets and into homelessness, or will lack a life plan to prevent the likelihood of homelessness within the near future (Report on Transitional Housing for Emancipated Foster Youth in Los Angeles County, Shelter Partnership, 1997).

1736 Family Crisis Center's emergency youth shelter offers troubled girls and boys ages 10 through 17 two weeks of safe refuge, counseling, recreational activities, help to reunify with parents or to find other safe placement, and other aid. We welcome teens 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Counseling for children and teens not requiring immediate shelter is available at our community service centers throughout Los Angeles.

Our 24-hour youth services crisis hotline offers immediate help and referrals. You can reach us now at (310) 379-3620.

For more information, click here.