NCJ Number
137039
Date Published
1992
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This testimony recounts a personal history of physical and sexual abuse and numerous foster home placements and tells about the services Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc. (Bridge) provides for runaway and homeless youth.
Abstract
Bridge offers comprehensive multi-services which have been crucial to the survival of the over 4,000 youth it serves annually: counseling and runaway services, medical and dental services, services for pregnant and parenting adolescents, an education/pre-employment program, and a residential component. A key agency component is street outreach. A team of streetworkers and the Bridge Free Medical Van make regularly scheduled nightly stops in areas where runaways and homeless youth congregate. Once a young person makes contact with Bridge, its full range of comprehensive agency services become available to him or her. Founded 21 years ago, Bridge has been in the forefront of the movement to create alternative youth services.