NCJ Number
154037
Date Published
1992
Length
272 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with 29 street kids and nine adult survivors of the streets, this book describes the lives of runaway and throwaway children in Canada.
Abstract
The book explores the factors that contribute to adolescent and young adult homelessness, including sexual abuse, domestic violence, incest, poverty, drug abuse, illiteracy, and the failure of the social services that are designed to save them. Most of the young people who agreed to be interviewed for this book did so in order to help other potential runaways. They beseeched troubled teenagers to seek alternatives to the street, though they would not advise them to stay in unhappy homes. The interviews also provided these kids with an opportunity to receive some attention, and perhaps, to wreak some measure of revenge on parents who had hurt them. Kids may beat the streets with the help of good role models, diversion programs, accessible medical and mental health services, and alternative education programs.