NCJ Number
94892
Date Published
1981
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the history of Huckleberry's for Runaways, discussion focuses on the need for comprehensive services, implementation of short-term and extended placement, the development of an alternative living program, and family placement and what has been learned about family placement -- the honeymoon crisis, the value of written contracts, communes as an unfeasible placement option, and placements with single parents, homosexual parents, and in group foster homes.
Abstract
Huckleberry, the Nation's first shelter for teenage runaways, opened its doors in June 1967. To move from a resource center to a service system, a nonprofit corporation, Youth Advocates, Inc., was formed. Youth Advocates, in addition to humanizing institutional placement, works to develop family placement. Initial efforts taught that for a placement to be good for youth, it must be good for the family. Subsequently, staff focused on how each family functioned and matching the family with compatible youth. The training process for families now includes a thorough explanation of the honeymoon-crisis phenomenon -- a normal adjustment reaction -- as well as illustrations, tapes, and role plays. Finally, topics requiring further consideration are reviewed, including the need to redefine the issue of adolescents away from their homes, the development of innovative programming for the crisis needs of special adolescent populations, and the necessity of finding an alternative to sole-source-per-diem public funding of foster care.