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Longitudinal Outcomes for Youth Receiving Runaway/Homeless Shelter Services

NCJ Number
216451
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 859-866
Author(s)
David E. Pollio; Sanna J. Thompson; Lisa Tobias; Donna Reid; Edward Spitznagel
Date Published
October 2006
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the long-term outcomes and service use of a sample of runaway/homeless youth following discharge from youth crisis shelters.
Abstract
The results support the hypotheses that runaway shelters are effective across a broad range of outcomes, but that over time many of these outcomes ease. Crisis shelter services appear to facilitate broad-based short-term gains, but did not appear sufficient to maintain these gains over an extended period. Post-discharge service use did not appear to be consistently associated with improved outcome. The findings suggest the need for post-discharge coordination of care. While previous studies provide a view of the challenges experienced by runaway/homeless youth, little research has addressed service provision and outcomes of service use among high-risk youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term outcomes of runaway/homeless adolescents who utilized emergency shelter services. Data for runaway/homeless youth using emergency shelter and crisis services were obtained from 11 agencies from across 4 States that provided services to these youth. The study sample consisted of 371 youth discharged from each runaway/homeless youth emergency shelter for a 6-month period. Tables, figures, references