NCJ Number
177267
Date Published
1997
Length
112 pages
Annotation
This book provides an overview of issues related to adolescent runaways and presents the personal stories of four young people who lived on the streets after running away from home or being thrown out of the home.
Abstract
The overview notes that teenage runaways come from families of all different backgrounds and types of communities. The average age is 15, a decline from an average age of 17. About 69 percent are white. Between 60 and 70 percent have been abused either physically or sexually. Others feel unable to cope with family problems such as divorce or a death in the family. Some have been encouraged to leave home by their parents. Youth who remain on the streets are susceptible to becoming victims of homicide or rape, to contracting AIDS, to becoming prostitutes, and to using and dealing drugs. The youths who present their stories include a 17-year-old female who has moved from shelter to shelter for years because she was upset by her parents' divorce and unwilling and unable to get along with her mother. An 18-year-old male was a member of a gang; rival gangs had put out a contract on his life and he feared for the safety of his mother and sisters if he stayed in the city. A 19-year-old son of two physicians was a throwaway who was unable to cope with either his mother's death or his father's subsequent abuse. A 15-year-old female engaged in sex with men in exchange for food and a warm place to sleep. The youths express anger about the situations from which they fled, but they acknowledge that street life was not a good solution. Suggestions of ways to become involved in the lives of runaway adolescents, list of resource organizations and hotlines, index, and list of 6 suggested further readings