Summary on Youth Homelessness
Introduction
Homelessness in youth is a significant problem. Evidence from literature shows that young persons who are homeless face an increased risk of exposure to a variety of mental and physical health complications, early pregnancy, violence, substance abuse and premature death. According to Morton et al. (2018), federal definitions comprise of distinct features of youth homelessness. For instance, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing 2009 Act defines homelessness by individuals’ unsheltered sleeping arrangements (such as sleeping in public areas) or sheltered (such as transitional housing or homeless shelter). Additionally, it includes youths who stay with others (e.g., doubling up or couch surfing) if they are known as homeless in other State descriptions and extra situations, or if they are running from unsafe conditions. The word homeless ids mostly used to define an individual’s discrimination-filled identity. Homelessness is however precisely seen as an experience or situation, instead of a personal characteristic, which is influenced by numerous cultural, social and economic issues. , it is crucial to comprehend the factors above to meet the social worker’s primary task of finishing homelessness. In response, this summary aims at identifying how social work can be used to solve the youth homelessness problem through different approaches. This summary aims at answering the question of how homelessness affects the youth either socially, culturally and economically. Also, the summary will question how social work can be used to alleviate the problem at micro, mezzo, & macro levels.
Problem Identification
Homelessness in youth is a serious public health problem in the world, even in the developed nations (Wang et al. 2019). Youth facing homelessness are described as young people between 13 to 24 years who live individually from their guardians or parents. Still, they have no way of acquiring a steady, consistent or safe residence, or even the vision of a home. The trails into youth homelessness are rarely experienced as a single incident, but they are anomalous. In contrast to adult homelessness, young homeless people are more likely to state exiting their homes due to battles with their parents, including abuse, being chased away from home, parental neglect because of mental health illnesses, or parental drug abuse. The more significant setting of family failure can cause youth conditions that additionally aggravate homelessness conditions, including parting desires from unaccommodating environments, mental health problems, financial freedom, drug abuse, plus confrontations with the law enforcement system.
Not only are young people’s routes into homelessness dissimilar from the grownup group, but their street involvements are also distinctive. Youth get exposed to numerous risks, and they are at danger of additional distress. Young people facing homelessness may encounter several day-to-day stressors, plus they have inadequate coping mechanisms and means to cope with the numerous stressors. Homelessness in youth is mostly indistinguishable, and it comprises of unsafe housing conditions like staying with relatives and couch surfing. Additionally, homeless youth are susceptible to health and social injustices, which define equality in the delivery of health openings and results across groups. Inequalities are alterations in health standing that are avoidable and unfair. Mostly, the accumulating result of different stratifying features can cause amplified differences between people.
Existing research and interventions are mainly engrossed on grownup populations, with an evidence gap on involvements for young homeless people on a wide range of results. Amongst the current responsibilities for people homeless people, case management and non-abstinence dependent permanent housing have depicted hopeful results in terms of enhancing housing permanence and the mental health results. However, young people are a distinct population that requires precisely tailored, context-appropriate, equity-focused social work involvements at micro, mezzo, plus macro stages. In the micro system, homelessness in youth can be reduced through the surroundings of an individual such as home, family and schools. Interventions that focus microsystems like neighbourhoods or communities can be used by social workers to bring change to homeless youths. In the macro system, guides like economy, policies and cultures can be used to form interventions aimed at ending youth homelessness.
Historical Analysis & Key Perspectives
while the 1960s deinstitutionalization movement that drove high numbers of people identified with mental sickness to be freed from federal psychiatrist infirmaries to the public is mostly pointed as the commencement of today’s homelessness, the history and origins of homelessness in the US are more long-standing and complex ( Larkin, Aykanian & Streeter,2019). All through history, there have been personal and systematic issues recognized as causal to the US homelessness. Systematic issues involve economic recession, poverty and hopelessness, conflicts, insufficient income, high unemployment, inadequate jobs, lack of cheap housing, migration of individuals without resources, lack of heath admittance, natural disasters and the lack of additional social services. Personal factors involve family or personal crises and sickness, trauma, mental illness, domestic violence, and drug abuse (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2017). Larkin, Aykanian & Streeter (2019) also notes that homelessness is a severe societal problem which is connected to mental and physical illness, exposure to trauma and social isolation. Studies on adverse childhood experiences showed a significant relationship between higher adverse childhood experiences values and emotional plus physical health complications later in life (Larkin, Aykanian & Streeter (2019). Therefore, the involvement of interventions that promote family wellness and support should be included in social work suggestions that aim at ending youth homelessness.
Best Community Practice Models
Presently, there is limited research that demonstrates if there the existing service programs towards ending youth homelessness are efficient. Also, Larkin, Aykanian & Streeter (2019) noted that there were gaps between services and the connection between professional and social supports were. The holes include how to prevent and stop youth homelessness. Intervention models and programs for homelessness in youth were slightly highlighted and hardly carried out in the actual studies.
Best Community Practice Models
Existing frameworks for bringing an end to youth homelessness includes positive youth growth. The model emphasizes on improvement of youth via the promotion of assets, positive involvements and openings—the interventions with youth major on risk and deficit issues rather than defensive issues. In positive advancement of youth, the approach aims at increasing protective influences via a cooperative method that includes several relations and support networks such as families, communities and schools. Another community practice model involves the use of trauma-informed care which focuses on dealing with adverse childhood experiences in youth facing homelessness. However, there is a gap in how social workers can go about assimilating the practices in their job. Recent research on how positive youth development can be applied in youth shelter settings established three crucial elements; the formation of non-judgemental and helpful relationships; youth-focused expectations and goals and institution policies and practices that focus on security plus youth participation (Leonard et al. 2017).
The Application to Social Work, Synthesis & Recommendations
Young individuals facing homelessness face tremendous hardship by depending on adept navigations and inner strengths of resources plus casual networks. Individual and agency workers can use numerous interventions to improve the existing enablement work with the youth. They can start on a macro level to form systems of valuation, hiring workers as well as governance that encourages youth choice and voice. At mezzo stage, social workers can come up with programmes and strategies that increase openings for parents and guardians to establish dependable relations with young individuals and for young persons to affect the agency workings. Micro policies enable authorization via every individual contact with the youth, from how they have fun, and they are greeted to how grownups notice their successes and experiences.
A clear understanding of the existing best community practice models in this area of young people experiencing homelessness could lead to improvements and changes in; street shelter programs and enforcement; how youth are treated and looked; how clinical therapy and social work are done; and the typical timeline of homelessness in youth. Future social work practice would benefit from a more in-depth look at the barriers and struggles that youth facing homelessness encounter daily and the street shelters as well as what homeless youth genuinely require at the moment. A change of policies can also be implemented to help keep youth safe. Scholars have also advocated for contextually relevant, developmentally informed interventions that can reduce barriers in utilization and target strengths.
References
Larkin, H., Aykanian, A., & Streeter, C. L. (2019). Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work. Springer International Publishing.
Leonard, N. R., Freeman, R., Ritchie, A. S., Gwadz, M. V., Tabac, L., Dickson, V. V., Cleland, C. M., Bolas, J., & Hirsh, M. (2017). “Coming from the place of walking with the youth—That feeds everything”: A mixed-methods case study of a runaway and homeless youth organization. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 34(5), 443–459
Morton, M. H., Dworsky, A., Matjasko, J. L., Curry, S. R., Schlueter, D., Chávez, R., & Farrell, A. F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(1), 14-21.
National Coalition for the Homeless. (2017). Homelessness in America: Reasons people become homeless. http://nationalhomeless.org/tag/history/. Accessed 30 June 2018.
Wang, J. Z., Mott, S., Magwood, O., Mathew, C., Mclellan, A., Kpade, V., … & Andermann, A. (2019). The impact of interventions for youth experiencing homelessness on housing, mental health, substance use, and family cohesion: a systematic review. BMC public health, 19(1), 1528.