Developing a Coordinated Youth Housing Stability Program for Juvenile Courts

Homeless youth engaging in street survival behaviors are at higher risk of justice involvement. Advocates for reducing youth homelessness have called on the juvenile justice system and allied system partners to minimize the legal consequences of these behaviors and to improve systemic responses to i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cityscape (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2018-01, Vol.20 (3), p.117-138
Main Authors: Walker, Sarah Cusworth, Valencia, Esteban, Bishop, Asia, Irons, Michael, Gertseva, Arina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Child development
Child welfare
Children & youth
Clinical psychology
Criminal records
Families & family life
Financial management
Foster care
Homeless people
Imprisonment
Juvenile justice
LGBTQ people
Prevention
Sex crimes
Social networks
Social research
Studies
Symposium: Youth Homelessness
Teenagers
Trauma
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Summary:Homeless youth engaging in street survival behaviors are at higher risk of justice involvement. Advocates for reducing youth homelessness have called on the juvenile justice system and allied system partners to minimize the legal consequences of these behaviors and to improve systemic responses to identifying and reducing homelessness. The current study used a community-based participatory approach to develop a model for reducing homelessness from within the juvenile justice system. This mixed methods study leveraged a research-practice partnership between university researchers and a midsized county court in Washington State to examine data from local juvenile filings in 2017, (n=555), statewide juvenile court data from 2016-17, (n=6,791/6,866), and qualitative data from workgroup meetings. Prevalence statistics suggest 20-50 percent of the youth filed in juvenile court had at least one prior episode of running away or being kicked out of the home. Key qualitative findings included tensions around the role of probation in addressing youth homelessness, the need for better methods of identification, and a lack of intensive family-based services targeted at preventing housing instability. The resulting juvenile court based model for addressing youth homelessness is presented and lessons learned from the research-practice partnership are discussed.
ISSN:1936-007X
1939-1935