Runaway and Homeless Youth: New Research and Clinical Perspectives

This straightforward reference surveys the knowledge base on homeless, runaway, and thrown-away children and adolescents and makes concrete recommendations for policy and practice. It is a comprehensive volume, that covers new state legislation in the U.S. dealing with runaway and homeless youth. The book’s ecological approach grounds readers in the demographics of this diverse population, family and other risk factors for leaving home (and alternative arrangements such as foster care), and the survival skills homeless young people use to sustain themselves. Chapters cover a gamut of physical, psychological, and social problems, from drug abuse to depression to STIs, with special attention paid to the multiple difficulties faced by LGBT street youth and street youths’ experiences with the legal and justice systems.

The author also assesses established and emerging interventions used with runaway youth, and the effectiveness of policy initiatives dealing with improving conditions for youth on the streets and at risk.

 

Included in the coverage:

·         Runaway youth at the time of their disappearance.

·         Food insecurity and related problems among homeless and runaway youth.

·         Substance use among homeless and runaway adolescents.

·         Runaway and homeless sexual minorities.

·         Court responses to runaway offenses and other juvenile status violations.

·         Street youth in different countries.

 

Presenting the complex situation as it stands, and with clear suggestions for action, Runaway and Homeless Youth is a valuable resource for family therapists, sociologists, social workers, school administrators, health professionals, police, judges, and other criminal justice professional, along with professionals involved in young people’s well-being and policy-making initiatives.

Dr. Stephen J. Morewitz is President of the consulting firm, STEPHEN J. MOREWITZ, Ph.D., & ASSOCIATES, Buffalo Grove, IL, San Francisco & Tarzana, CA, which was founded in 1988. His firm consults in criminal and civil litigation, curriculum development, and program development. He is a Lecturer in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at California State University, East Bay, and is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, San Jose State University. Dr. Morewitz has been on the faculty or staffs of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine and School of Public Health, DePaul University, Argonne National Laboratory, and the California School of Podiatric Medicine. He is founder of the Forensic Social Sciences Association, an interdisciplinary and international association. Dr. Morewitz is the author of 100 publications, including the San Jose State University Faculty Author award-winning book, Kidnapping and Violence: New Research and Clinical Perspectives (New York: Springer, 2016), the San Jose State University Faculty Author award-winning book, Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology (New York: Springer, 2014 (co-edited with Dr. Mark L. Goldstein), Death Threats and Violence. New Research and Clinical Perspectives (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2008), the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Crime and Delinquency Division award-winning book, Domestic Violence and Maternal and Child Health (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers/Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2004), the SSSP Crime and Delinquency Division award-winning book, Stalking and Violence. New Patterns of Trauma and Obsession (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers/Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2003), and Sexual Harassment and Social Change in American Society (Bethesda, MD: Austin & Winfield, Rowman and LittlefieldPublishing Group, 1996). He is past Chair of the SSSP Crime and Delinquency Division and has served on a variety of SSSP committees. He was elected to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and to Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Society in Social Sciences. Dr. Morewitz earned his A.B. and M.A. from The College of William & Mary in Virginia and his Ph.D. from The University of Chicago.