Lecture 9: Street-Involved Youth in Canada

Question 1

Street Involved Youth

Answer 1

• Youth 25 or under who do not have a safe home or are under-housed;
• Who have been forced to leave their families of origin;
• Who have run away from their homes without the consent of their parent or guardian;
• Who left foster or group-care placements;
• Or who are living on the street but who engage in street-related activities and identify with street culture and peer groups.

Question 2

Kinds of street-involved youth:

Answer 2

1. Throwaways.
2. Runaways.
3. Those not living on street but who engage in street-related activities.

Question 3

Throwaways

Answer 3

Youth asked or encouraged to leave home by their parents/guardians with the purpose of ending parental responsibility.

Question 4

Runaways

Answer 4

Youth who have led their homes/welfare placement without the consent of their parents/guardians.

Question 5

How do youth become involved in street activities?

Answer 5

A degradation ceremonies.

Question 6

Give an example of how triggers for street involvement differs according to age.

Answer 6

Parents disagreeing with adolescent’s sexual orientation is a trigger, while it is not for adult children.

Question 7

What are the two UN categories of homelessness:

Answer 7

1. Absolute homelessness.

2. Relative homelessness.

Question 8

Absolute Homelessness

Answer 8

Sleeping in places unfit for human habitation.

Question 9

Relative Homelessness

Answer 9

Situations where basic standards are not met.

Question 10

True or false? Relative homelessness is absolutely unfit for humans.

Answer 10

False.

Question 11

Family moving into an uncompleted home is ___ ___.

Answer 11

Relatively homeless.

Question 12

True or false? Most people choose homelessness.

Answer 12

False.

Question 13

Unsheltered

Answer 13

They have all their stuff with them in a cart, background, carry their home. Pass night wherever.

Question 14

What is the worst form of homelessness?

Answer 14

Unsheltered.

Question 15

Emergency Sheltered

Answer 15

Homeless who make use of government/charity funded shelters.

Question 16

Provisionally Accommodated

Answer 16

No security of tenure. Banking on niceties of friends. Takes over friends couch. Precarious way of life.

Question 17

At Risk of Homelessness

Answer 17

Not homeless yet, and may still be in homes/apartments. However, unemployment, layoffs put them at risk.

Question 18

Is homelessness deviant?

Answer 18

Yes. Question of normality. Belief that you should be in a house somewhere, and we should be able to trace you to some address.

Question 19

Homelessness is ___ rather than ___.

Answer 19

Fluid. static.

Question 20

Life Cycle Model

Answer 20

Proposes series of stages that youth encounter on street. Mainstream, recidivism, stasis, disequilibrium.

Question 21

Most youth that run away from home are between the ages of…

Answer 21

15-17 (older teens).

Question 22

Most homeless youth are what race?

Answer 22

Caucasian (followed by Aboriginals and African-Americans).

Question 23

Hidden Homeless

Answer 23

People pass the night with some friends, neighbours, or family members. Have support around them.

Question 24

Are the numbers for homeless higher or those for hidden homeless?

Answer 24

Hidden homeless.

Question 25

Most homeless are adult ___ between 22 and 55 years old.

Answer 25

Males.

Question 26

Socioeconomically men tend to earn more. However, the male to female ratio is 2:1. Why?

Answer 26

- Hard economic conditions. - Less support network. - Male breadwinner model. - Less likely to seek support.

Question 27

Aboriginal people are ___ in the homeless population.

Answer 27

Overrepresented.

Question 28

Which gender drops out of school more often?

Answer 28

Females.

Question 29

How do homeless youth make money?

Answer 29

Occasional work, begging, prostitution.

Question 30

Homeless Youth

Answer 30

Youth who have either left or who have been urged to leave home with the full knowledge or approval of legal guardians, with no alternative home in which to live.

Question 31

Issues to consider while planning an estimate or count of the number of street-involved youth?

Answer 31

- What criteria determines street involvement? - How should street-involved youth be contacted? - Should shelter numbers be used as basis for predicting the uncounted street-involved population?

Question 32

Ecological Perspective

Answer 32

Puts focus on the interaction of the individual with different systems (school, peers, community resources, child welfare, government) and within the predominant values, attitudes, and philosophies of society.

Question 33

Ecological perspective recognizes that no individual lives in a ___ ___.

Answer 33

Social vacuum.

Question 34

Microsystem

Answer 34

Immediate setting in which a person resides.

Question 35

Mesosystem

Answer 35

Represents the connections between the child's microsystems and ecosystems.

Question 36

Exosystem

Answer 36

Systems in which policies and operations can enhance or detract from opportunities.

Question 37

Macrosystems

Answer 37

Includes culture and ideology of the society in which a person lives.

Question 38

Why do youth leave home?

Answer 38

- Result of family conflict, disruption, and maltreatment. - Thrown out or forced to leave, seek further independence. - Aging-out of child welfare system.

Question 39

What are the 3 pathways to the street?

Answer 39

1. Leaving home. 2. Thrown out/forced to leave as "throwaways." 3. Early exit/aging out of child welfare system.

Question 40

True or false? Many street-involved youth report maltreatment at the hands of caregivers. This is especially influential for girls.

Answer 40

True.

Question 41

What are risk factors associated with street involved youth?

Answer 41

- Difficulty with school. - Mental health and behavioural disorders. - Child welfare experiences.

Question 42

Sexual assault against children is increasing/decreasing, despite an opposite trend in general crime.

Answer 42

Increasing.

Question 43

When do most youth leave home?

Answer 43

When told to do so by their parents, or when their parents do not care.

Question 44

___ report significantly higher rates of sexual abuse than ___.

Answer 44

Females, males.

Question 45

Conduct Disorder

Answer 45

Includes everything from bullying to lacking empathy. Relationship with others, capacity to form healthy relationships with others.

Question 46

Those with mental health issues are more likely to...

Answer 46

Use drugs, have low self-esteem, and commit suicide.

Question 47

True or false? Those on the street tend to romanticize street life.

Answer 47

True.

Question 48

What is ironic about youth that leave home to escape rules?

Answer 48

They are subject to rules that are more restrictive than the ones they ran away from.

Question 49

How do youth that run away from home feel?

Answer 49

Lonely, disoriented, and survival instinct kicks in. Continual fight or flight response.

Question 50

True or false? Street entrenched youth often find mentors.

Answer 50

True.

Question 51

True or false? Street entrenched youth are more often victimized.

Answer 51

True.

Question 52

What are some resilience factors?

Answer 52

- Many have strong sense of confidence in their own abilities, security in beliefs, and high self-worth. - Have resource-related skills. - Coping skills include spirituality, friends, time alone to think, positive thinking, sense of humour, and having hobbies.

Question 53

Substance use for street entrenched youth is usually as a ___ ___.

Answer 53

Coping mechanism. Can also be for social/recreational purposes.

Question 54

Almost all street-entrenched youth use ___ drugs.

Answer 54

Non-injection.

Question 55

Injection puts youth at risk for what disease?

Answer 55

HIV/AIDS.

Question 56

Youth on the street become sexually active ___ youth living at home.

Answer 56

Before.

Question 57

True or false? Street-involved youth are at higher risk for physical/mental health problems.

Answer 57

True.

Question 58

Squeegee Kids

Answer 58

Group of street-involved youth who are resourceful in attempting to develop and maintain a livelihood and means of survival by offering to clean windshields at major intersections.

Question 59

What is the sexual health of street-involved youth like?

Answer 59

- High risk for STI's. - Frequent sexual activity with multiple partners. - Pregnancy.

Question 60

How can pregnancy be good for street-involved you?

Answer 60

Could be a reason why they leave the street. Social services, favourable disposition of service providers, general public.

Question 61

Survival/Obligatory Sex

Answer 61

Trading sex for money, food, shelter, or other necessities.

Question 62

Which gender is at a higher risk for survival/obligatory sex?

Answer 62

Females.

Question 63

Survival/obligatory sex has been considered to increase autonomy. What are objections to this?

Answer 63

IT is not overly empowering.

Question 64

A high percentage of street-involved youth had previous child-welfare experiences and foster-care placements. True or false?

Answer 64

True.

Question 65

Those in foster care report feeling poorly prepared for ___ ___.

Answer 65

Independent living.

Question 66

Why do street-involved youth become involved in crime? for ___ and ___ reasons.

Answer 66

Situational, personal.

Question 67

Give reasons why street-involved youth become involved in crime/gangs.

Answer 67

- Money. - Unemployment. - Deviant/criminal peers. - Being victimized. - Perception of blocked opportunities. - Drug use. - Low self-control. - High self-esteem.

Question 68

How can street-involved youth be seen as a social production?

Answer 68

The rise of neoliberalism.

Question 69

How does neoliberalism contribute to street-involved youth?

Answer 69

1. Reduction in affordable housing. 2. Youth unemployment. 3. Reduction in state benefits. 4. Changes in labour trend or job market. 5. Changes in family composition.

Question 70

Explain how neoliberalism has resulted in changes in labour trend or job market.

Answer 70

Outsourcing of jobs, requirements for jobs go up.

Question 71

Explain how neoliberalism has resulted in changes in family composition.

Answer 71

Rise of the lone-person household, women especially at risk for poverty.

Question 72

True or false? There is a link between child abuse, pregnancy, and homelessness.

Answer 72

True.

Question 73

Top 5 reasons LGBT youth become homeless:

Answer 73

1. Family rejection of sexual orientation. 2. Forced out because of sexual orientation. 3. Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. 4. Aged out of foster care system. 5. Financial.emotional neglect.

Question 74

Generational Cycle of Welfare System

Answer 74

Self-reproducing homelessness and dependency.

Question 75

Use of street services depends on:

Answer 75

- Knowledge. - Ease of access. - Current level of entrenchment in street culture.

Question 76

True or false? Youth services should be administered top-down.

Answer 76

False, they should youth-oriented.

Question 77

Youth Centre Programming Model

Answer 77

Youth play a significant role in developing and evaluating programs, and agencies continue to be flexible in adapting to changing needs of street-involved youth.

Question 78

According to Karabanov, what are the steps to get off the streets?

Answer 78

1. Precipitating events. 2. Developing courage to change. 3. Seek support. 4. Physically leave street. 5. Restructuring routines. 6. Having direction.

Question 79

What is the final step to getting off the street according to Karabanov?

Answer 79

Having direction.

Question 80

What are precipitating events according to Karabanov?

Answer 80

Traumatic event, boredom, disenchantment.