Across the country, thousands of young people are without permanent homes. Service providers and policy makers have not known how many of these young people exist or how to meet their needs. That picture is changing due to the work of a study called Voices for Youth Count that is sponsored by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and led in part by SSA Associate Professor Gina M. Samuels. Samuels and SSA Assistant Professor Shanta R. Robinson worked on the study, which included interviews with 215 homeless youth. These interviews showed that the youth saw their experiences with homelessness starting long before they entered a shelter or were on the street. They talked about a childhood of instability and loss, poverty, and foster care. Despite those set backs, many of the youth expressed optimism and hope for their future.
Privileged white kids running away from home. Some combination of substance abuse and a misplaced sense of adventure encouraging teenagers to play at dumpster diving. These are common stereotypes of youth homelessness, and, for a long time, there was little research to challenge these views. But a new study called Voices of Youth Count, led in part by SSA associate professor Gina Samuels, is upending the stereotypes and producing the rigorous data policymakers and service providers need to effectively address the issue.
"Our country lacks a reliable national estimate of how many homeless youth there are or a clear understanding of the processes by which they become or stay homeless," says Samuels. "So the primary motivation behind the study was to close the gaps in knowledge that have been hindering our ability to inform sound policy and practice decisions.”