NCJ Number
125592
Date Published
1990
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles has assumed a leadership role in facilitating interagency communication and cooperation among agencies that come in contact with runaway and homeless youth.
Abstract
The hospital's program has five major components: networking and consolidation, outreach, short-term crisis shelter, comprehensive medical and psychosocial care, and long-term shelter and case management. More than 30 county agencies have been organized into a Coordinating Council for Homeless Youth Services. Street outreach workers frequent areas where kids congregate and pass out cards with phone numbers and addresses of free services available to them. Some agencies operate hotlines or drop-in centers where clothing, food, and bus tokens are distributed and services such as access to showers, laundry facilities, and crisis counseling are offered. The short-term crisis shelter network includes a total of 84 beds; youth in crisis shelters receive food, showers, and crisis intervention counseling. Youth clinics provide outpatient medical care, mental health and substance abuse screening and counseling, and social needs assessment. The Los Angeles Youth Network operates a 20-bed shelter and a comprehensive case management center which provide emergency services, crisis intervention, long-term stabilization, and followup. Law enforcement in Los Angeles County plays a critical role in the system of care by locating youth and transporting them to an emergency shelter. 5 endnotes and 2 tables.