Topic: Runaway and Homeless Youth (29 posts)

"I once heard a story about a homeless man on Hollywood Boulevard who really thought he was invisible. It is not hard to comprehend this man's slow spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn't exist?much like they do to a piece of thrash on the side walk. I not only feel their pain, I truly know their pain. You would never know it now, but I was a homeless person. Fourteen years ago, I lived on Hollywood Boulevard," - Mark Horvath.

Mark Horvath is on a personal mission to tell the story of homeless people across America. Horvath is a documentary filmmaker who is determined to give homeless people a voice and a face so they will no longer remain invisible to the world around them.

This summer, Horvath is embarking on a road trip across the United States with a documentary team to show the effects of homelessness across the country. Last summer, he visited over 25 cities including two Safe Place agencies, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth in Las Vegas, and Youth Oasis in Baton Rouge, LA. This year he is interested in highlighting the Safe Place program again in hopes to get an in depth look at how our agencies provide resources to homeless youth nationally.

Maybe you've seen a Safe Place sign in your neighborhood. I know whenever I see one I smile. It's really a very cool and simple idea. When teens have a problem often they don't have anyplace to go. When a kid sees this sign they know that it is a "safe place" for them and they will be connected to real help. Gosh, I wonder how much that would have changed me when I was raising hell as a teenager?" -Mark Horvath

Horvath will be visiting Wichita Children's Home in Wichita, KS at the end of July. Toward the end of August, he will be visiting the National Safe Place office and YMCA Safe Place Services in Louisville, KY, as well as Homeward Bound/Brighton Center in Newport, KY. During his visit, Horvath will be exploring Safe Place's national approach to assist homeless youth as well as the efforts on the local level with street outreach and raising awareness about the issue.

Horvath has experienced first hand the depths of being homeless in America. After pushing himself off the streets, Horvath decided to give a face to the 'invisible people' among us by launching his website: Invisible People, where he shares short video clips of homeless people one at a time. His site has struck a cord with many for its raw visuals of homeless life. He utilizes the power of social media to draw attention to his cause and has gained a passionate following on Twitter with Invisible People and his personal account, @HardlyNormal. Amongst his followers are a diverse group of homeless advocates, non-profits, and people wanting to help make a change.

As Horvath interviews people, he inquires about their situation and usually ends with the question: "If you had three wishes, what would they be?" When having that same question countered to him, Horvath responds: "My first wish would be that people really see the reality of homelessness, and that we develop communities and work as a team to solve the problem."And the third: "I would like security and normalcy to my life, but with a name like HardlyNormal, it's never going to happen."

His outreachwork is gaining widespread attention. Ford Motor Company donated a vehicle for his 2010 Summer Road trip and most recently he won the Pepsi Refresh Grant for invisiblepeople.tv to help homeless people utilize social media to tell their story and help themselves out of poverty.

To learn more about Mark Horvath, check out his website: http://www.invisiblepeople.tv/ or you can follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hardlynormal and www.twitter.com/invisiblepeople

Posting this InvisiblePeople.TV interview with Larry Lovelett, Homeless Youth Transition Specialist and Safe Place director for the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY). NPHY operates the Safe Place program in the greater Las Vegas area.

Larry has a great conversation with Mark Horvath (read more about Mark and InvisiblePeople.tv in a previous post) about the challenges homeless youth face in a major metro area like Las Vegas and about the resources that NPHY and other runaway and homeless youth shelters offer to kids in crisis and their families every day.

Thanks again to Mark for including the often untold story of homeless -- more than 1.3 million children are homeless -- in his travels and highlighting Safe Place as an outlet for help to youth on the streets and to any youth who may be experiencing problems, whether they have a home or not.

Summer is a time for roadtrips -- weekend getaways, off-the-beaten-path side excursions and adventures to places you've never been before. Sometimes there can be nothing more relaxing than dropping the windows, cranking some tunes and setting out for a couple hours with no destination in mind. One man though, Mark Horvath of Los Angeles, is embarking on a roadtrip of a whole different kind, one that hopes to bring real impact to the more than 3.5 million homeless across the country.

From a release about Mark's trip:

Starting today, Horvath will visit over 25 cities across the nation in order to help bring understanding and knowledge to the growing homeless crisis. Because he knows homelessness does not discriminate, Horvath will visit a mix of rural areas, larger cities, shelters and youth facilities to bring a voice to the voiceless through the power of social media. Personal stories of those who are homeless will be posted on Horvath's vlog, YouTube and Vimeo, and through social networks including Twitter and Facebook. In addition, he will share stories in real-time on Whrrl as he visits these communities.

For 49 days and more than 8,500 miles Mark plans to travel the country and let homeless individuals tell their own story on his Web site, InvisiblePeople.tv. Because children make up more than one-third of nation's 3.5 million homeless, Mark will visit a number of runaway and homeless youth shelters and youth drop-in centers during his visit. During one of his first cities he'll visit, Las Vegas, Mark will visit the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, the organization that manages Safe Place in the greater Las Vegas area.

There he'll see an example of one of 140 Safe Place programs that operate a public-private partnership to connect youth in crisis with safety, shelter and counseling resources. In Las Vegas, Nevada Partnership has recruited all Terrible Herbst convenience stores, Joe's Crab Shack restaurants and city's bus system (Citizen Area Transit) to serve as locations where local youth can ask for help. Employees at Safe Place locations are trained to call the Nevada Partnership where a licensed professional is dispatched to arrive within 20 minutes. In 2008, 297 youth in the Las Vegas were connected to the Nevada Partnership's services after asking for help at a Safe Place location.

National Safe Place will also be looking to connect Mark with other Safe Place programs in the communities where he plans to visit. You can follow Mark's thoughts from the road on InvisiblePeople.tv's Twitter feed.

Special thanks to his sponsors -- Ford Motor Company has given Mark the use of a new Ford Flex for his trip; Hanes has donated socks to be given to homeless; and Whrrl is another lead sponsor -- and best of luck to him on this meaningful journey.

In the past three weeks I have been on at least 15 webinars, attended countless forums and visited a billion websites and yet I still do not understand what I should be doing to get stimulus money to homeless youth and the programs that serve them.

I have read guides and blogs and reviewed power-points and have studied the statute and guidance on Homeless Prevention and Re-housing Program as well as material on green jobs and energy efficiency.

Just two Saturdays ago I listened to 3 elected officials and 17 panelists espouse the wonders of the Stimulus Package and the wonders it will do for our State.

Everything looks great, on paper. What I cannot figure out is how to translate that promise into actual services and supports, jobs and opportunities for homeless youth. Once again homeless youth have to compete for recognition within the myriad needy populations competing for jobs, training and services. And once again, we are an afterthought at best, totally ignored at worst.

Once again local services are at the mercy of planning commissions and government bureaucracies that include youth or not at their whim. For example, I know many programs work hard with their HUD Continuum of Care planning groups in their communities, and homeless youth have been recognized and received funding through those efforts, but it is a constant struggle to maintain the effort.

I don t want much. I want green jobs for homeless youth, I want services, supports and permanent housing for homeless youth. I want education and service opportunities for homeless youth. I want homeless youth recognized as a discrete population within the larger community of need.

Is that too much to ask of a $732 Billion dollar program?

Last week there was an article in The Northwest Youth Networker about confidentiality and its limits. This week there was an explanation given to that article after a number of readers wrote to Jerry Fest, the editor of the newsletter, telling him he got the law wrong.

First, let me admit that I did not see the television program in question, "America", produced by Rosie O'Donnell, and, quite frankly, I have no intention of viewing it. The mere fact that I admittedly know nothing will not stop me from commenting.

The facts as I have come to know them (pure hearsay). America, the protagonist, a young man in foster care, admits to his counselor that he murdered his abuser. His counselor had a prior conversation with America where she told him about her mandate to report disclosures of harm to self or others. After revealing his role in the murder of his abuser, his counselor tells him she is not going to disclose the information. The way I read Jerry Fest's point is that it is never good practice to say one thing and do another.

Good practice and confidentiality may conflict at times, but the law of confidentiality must take precedence.

Confidentiality laws vary state to state, profession to profession, so it is incumbent upon every individual to know the law they are obligated to operating under. In most cases, the mandate to report child abuse/neglect applies only to immediate or ongoing risk and/or imminent events as does a social worker, therapist or other professional's mandate to report threatened harm to others. There is often no obligation to report criminal activity, even the most heinous of crimes, but I cannot speak for every state in the nation on this. Laws vary.

Good practice must begin with a full understanding of the law impacting confidentiality. It is never a good idea to ume the law says something because laws are sometimes reactions to public opinion and therefore logic and rational thinking do not always prevail. Once you understand the law, you can accurately explain to the next young person who enters your door what the limits are of confidentiality giving over the power of disclosure to the one person who should have that power, the young person, laying the foundation for work you will do together.

UPDATE - Here s a photo (courtesy of the Washington Times) of then President-elect Obama hugging a teen helper after painting a dresser at the Bruce House on Jan. 19.

ORIGINAL POST:

President-Elect Barack Obama visited the Sasha Bruce House on Jan. 19 as part of his support for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Bruce House, as it is commonly called, is a shelter for runaway and homeless youth and is part of a larger agency, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, that operates Safe Place in the District of Columbia.

NBC News Laura Appelbaum this quote from the president-elect in her report:

Obama praised the organization, which was founded by Deborah S in 1974 as a street-counseling program for teens and is currently the only emergency shelter for homeless teens in DC.

"This facility here is an example of somebody with imagination and determination working together," Obama said. "These young people have huge potential that right now is not being tapped. And given the crisis that we re in and the hardships that so many people are going through, we can t allow any idle hands. Everybody s got to be involved. Everybody s going to have to pitch in. And I think the American people are ready to do that."

Youth that reach out for help using Safe Place in DC -- common Safe Place locations in District include 7-Eleven convenient stores and fire stations -- would be able to stay at Bruce House if they needed short-term housing to overcome problems such as issues at home beyond their control or if they felt that there is nowhere they belong. Sasha Bruce first opened it Safe Place program in 1989. Below are a handful of additional coverage from Obama s visit, and we ll look to post video when it s available.

[USA Today]

[AP]

[New York Times]

[Washington Post]

[CBS News]

[ABC News]

(with apologies to all those in recovery)

No doubt we are all facing huge funding challenges. New York, like many other states, is facing unheard of deficits, and despite the promise that the budget will not be balanced on the backs of the poor, guess what - New York is cutting programs for the poor between 25% and 100% because, the alternative - raising taxes on those earning over $250,000 per year, would harm New York's economy. What economy?

In 1894, Anatole France, writing in his novel The Red Lily said it best:

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

Governors in New York and elsewhere have updated this idea by insuring that neither the rich nor the poor will be burdened by tax increase on their earnings over one-quarter of a million each year.

Which leads me to the conclusion that I need to find a 12 step program that will wean me off money. After all, if I stopped my addiction to spending at my small not-for profit, wouldn't we all be better off. So here are my 12 Steps, which due to budget constraints I have had to cut to four.

Step One - Admit I am powerless over my addiction to money.

Oh funding - you have made my life unmanageable; a simplified life, one without housing or food will bring me closer to finding true happiness.

Step Two - Come to believe in a power greater than one's self.
; ; ; ; ; Obama?

Step Three - Make a list of persons I have harmed and make amends.

One giant apology goes out to the thousands of homeless and street-involved children and the programs that serve them for my mistaken beliefs that I should advocate for additional resources and enhanced services through increased appropriations and a commitment on the part of our elected officials to serve those with the least, first.

Step Four - Continue to take my personal inventory and admit when I am wrong.

Let me start this all important step by admitting I am wrong about Steps One and Three, it remains to be seen how step two turns out.

2009 is a time of promise tinged with practicality. I am hopeful that we can get through this mess and emerge better for it. I wish you all a hope filled and hope fulfilled year.

Growing up I was taught that the job of an elected official was to work on behalf of their constituents. Long after I gave up on Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, I still believed in the myth that the job of those we placed in office was to try and fulfill the promises made that got them elected in the first place.

For as long as I can remember, NY has had a fractured, cantankerous and dysfunctional legislative body. In the end decisions were made by three old men (the governor, and the majority leadership of our senate and assembly) behind closed doors and seemingly without input. Eliot Spitzer was supposed to change that...

This November, for the first time in decades, New York State?s governor, and a majority in the assembly and senate are from the same party, and while that does not mean there will be across the board agreement on every issue, it should at least mean that some promises can be kept.

It turns out; Santa Claus is a better bet than our elected officials.

New York?s Democratic leadership pledged that if they got control of both houses and the Governorship they would pass legislation allowing same sex couples to marry and granting them equal protection under the law, a right guaranteed by our constitution. Now the leadership is reneging on that promise ? why? ? because they want to wait until after the next election in 2011 in the hope that they will gain more seats and more power.

More power to do what exactly?

I want my taxpayer money spent on people who will actually do the job they were elected to do, I do not want to pay for someone whose job is only to get reelected. (Do they really believe that doing their job is the same as keeping their job.)

If our elected officials are not paid to try and put the policies in place that go them elected in the first place, then what is their job exactly.

Despite an intense focus on the bailout bill, Congress passed the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act on Friday, Sept. 26. The current legislation was set to expire Sept. 30 and had Congress not acted would have jeopardized more than 300 youth-serving agencies that receive support through its funding. The new legislation, championed by Rep. John Yarmuth (KY-3), provides a significant increase in authorized funding levels and additional measures including a regular homeless youth census and increased accountability from grantees. Below is a release from the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor:

House Approves Final Legislation to Protect Runaway and Homeless Youth

WASHINGTON, DC (Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008) -- Last night the U.S. House of Representatives approved final bipartisan legislation to strengthen protections and support for America's runaway and homeless children. The measure, the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act (S.2982), builds on legislation authored by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), which the House overwhelmingly passed in June. It now heads to the President's desk for his signature.

The bill reauthorizes the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. Among other things, it would significantly improve the quality of services available to help disconnected youth and would expand access to those programs ;- so that fewer runaway and homeless children are turned away from shelters.

"We must protect our nation's most vulnerable children, especially those who have been pushed out and are living on the streets. This legislation will give them the physical shelter and emotional support they need to start rebuilding their lives," said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "I commend Rep. Yarmuth for his leadership and dedication to providing runaway and homeless children across the country with the attention, stability, and hope they deserve."

"This legislation will bring us significantly closer to ensuring that, in America, no child ever has to grow up without a home," said Rep. Yarmuth. "For more than a million children each year, this legislation could mean the difference between continuing to live on the streets without hope and finding a path to successful adulthood."

"I would like to congratulate Rep. Yarmuth on this bill and commend him for his commitment to helping our nation's runaway and homeless youth," said U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), the chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities. It is crucial that we do everything in our power to help the thousands of vulnerable young people in this country that are without a home. The programs that are reauthorized in this bill will give runaway and homeless children a real chance at getting a new start in life and help them get on track to a better future."

More than a million children experience homelessness each year; in many cases these children flee because of situations of abuse and neglect. Studies show that runaway and homeless youth are at greater risk of behavioral and mental health problems.

In addition, the bill would also increase transparency at the Department of Health and Human Services and provide funding for local community programs that help homeless and runaway youth. In 2005, these programs served over 500,000 homeless and runaway children.

Would it shock you to learn that your program is listed on a website that features young people stripping? Even if ostensibly there was a good cause behind the campaign? Virgin Mobile, in an effort to raise awareness about homeless youth and to provide homeless youth with donated clothing, has initiated a new website, strip2clothe.com that invites young people to submit videos of themselves stripping. American Eagle, Virgin Mobile's clothing arm, will donate new apparel to homeless youth based on the number of hits the site gets.

Virgin Mobile and American Apparel tried in the past with a "txt2clothe" campaign but it did not get enough of a buzz to continue. So they went the "sex sells" route. For every video, a piece of clothing is donated and for every five hits, another piece of clothing is donated.

When you go to the site, you can click on a state and get a listing of all the programs that are part of the campaign. There we were: Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services an organization that has worked for over 30 years to protect young people from exploitation and harm. No one from Virgin Mobile ever called and asked our permission to be listed. Chances are, your agency is listed. We contacted Virgin Mobile and asked that they immediately remove our organization from the site.

What's the harm - to start with, we know that homeless, runaway and street-involved youth are far more vulnerable to sexual exploitation than youth from stable families. Street outreach workers have reported that up to 90 of youth involved in commercial sex work have histories of past sexual abuse. Commercial sex work includes trading sex for money, food, a place to sleep, and/or drugs. Young people take off their clothes in bars and at private parties for basic necessities. In exchange they get beat-up, raped, humiliated, and robbed. There is plenty of harm.

I do not want to discourage Virgin Mobile in their sincere effort to help young people who are homeless and in need of all our attention. I just want them to be a responsible partner. Their current campaign is exploitive and hurtful but we can join together and design a campaign that is both edgy and appropriate.

How about:

• JokesForJeans.com
• RapForWraps.com
• DanceForDoRags.com

We have started a petition campaign to remove organizations from the site. If you are interested go to:

http://www.petitiononline.com/082008/petition.html

Let's give Virgin Mobile a graceful way out. Your ideas will be far more creative than the ones listed above. Join me in getting the message out to Virgin Mobile that they can and must do better.

Dating violence affects an alarming number of teens, and many don't recognize when their relationship is abusive. This is why Youth In Need's Safe Place program is partnering with a local domestic violence agency to discuss topics, such as healthy relationships, dating violence and abusive partners when delivering Safe Place presentations to teens.

One out of every three teenagers has experienced violence in a dating relationship. Most cases involve one partner trying to maintain power and control over the other through some kind of abuse. Many teens only recognize abuse in the physical form, but there are actually four kinds of dating violence: Physical, psychological, sexual and financial. Physical abuse is easily described, but the other types require more explanation. Psychological abuse can take many forms, including put-downs, using social status, threats, intimidation and isolation. Sexual abuse includes rape, which is everyone's initial thought, but it's also inappropriate jokes, comments, harassment and touching. Finally, financial abuse is using your own money for bribery or expecting your partner to be the sole financial provider. Each type of abuse can be used to control the other person and are huge warning signs for the person being abused.

When presenting to teens, it is essential to use information and examples that make sense in their lives. When discussing trust and the right to privacy, we ask if the teens have ever searched through their partner's phone without their knowledge or snooped through their partner's MySpace or Facebook accounts. Discuss how this shows a lack of trust, which is a key component in any relationship. If an individual feels they cannot trust their partner, then they should end the relationship.

Thank you to Safe Connections' Project H.A.R.T. program in St. Louis, Mo., for providing warning signs:

21 Warning Signs of an Abusive Person

Am I/Is my partner a person who:

1. Was or is abused by a parent?
2. Grew up in a home where an adult was abused by another adult?
3. Gets very serious with boyfriends/girlfriends very quickly? (For example: Saying "I love you" very early in the relationship; wanting to move in together or get engaged after only a few months; or pressuring partner for a serious commitment)
4. Comes on very strongly, is extremely charming and an overly smooth talker?
5. Is extremely jealous?
6. Isolates a partner from support systems? (For example: Wants a partner all to themselves, and tries to keep partner from friends, family or outside activities)
7. Attempts to control what a partner wears, what she/he does or who she/he sees?
8. Is abusive toward other people, especially mother or sisters if he is male?
9. Blames others for one's own misbehavior or failures?
10. Abuses drugs or alcohol?
11. Has unrealistic expectations, like expecting a partner to meet all of one's needs and be the perfect partner?
12. Is overly sensitive? (For example: Acts ?hurt' when not getting one's way; takes offense when others disagree with an opinion; gets very upset at small inconveniences that are just a normal part of life)
13. Has ever been cruel to animals?
14. Has ever abused children?
15. Has ever hit a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past?
16. Has ever threatened violence, even if it wasn't a ?serious' threat?
17. Calls a partner names, puts him/her down or curses at him/her?
18. Is extremely moody, and switches quickly from being very nice to exploding in anger?
19. If a male, believes women are inferior to men and should obey them?
20. Is intimidating? (For example: Using threatening body language, punching walls or breaking objects?
21. Holds partner against his/her will to keep him/her from walking away or leaving the room?

A diversified list if topics can make your presentation more marketable and encourage multiple presentations to the same group of young people. What are some other important topics to bring up in Safe Place presentations?

Programs serving homeless, runaway and street-involved youth have always worked with young people whose backgrounds are less than stellar. In many cases we do not even become aware of past problems until the youth is established in our program. This is certainly more true for crisis services and drop-in centers, but even youth accepted into transitional living programs may have incidents in their past that are not known to the agency.

In the past we have relied on appropriate supervision and trained staff to guard against problems in our programs. Even so there were times when serious problems occurred and hopefully we learned some lesson on how to do a better job.

Has something changed?

For the past year or so there has been sporadic buzz about the need to do background checks on youth before they enter a program. This chatter has not been limited to one geographic area, one program model or even a small group of programs. These discussions have been at the table of groups around the country.

The concerns expressed by program are very real:

• Serious mental health issues
• Sexual predators
• Criminal backgrounds

Are these new concerns or have we just gotten better at diagnostics? What is the role of the media in heightening our concerns? How much pressure is the insurance industry putting on programs? Where is the line between perception and reality are we guarding against problems that rarely occur?

I see these questions are directly related to the diminishing resources available to run programs. Costs are rising daily, program budgets remain flat or are being cut. The cost of insurance is skyrocketing. Experienced staff can not afford to work at our programs ; they have to pay rent and eat too.

Is the only solution to reduce risk by screening out young people in need of our services in an effort to control (insurance and specialized staff)? That answer is a derogation of everything the runaway and homeless youth field is built upon.

Let's get serious about funding for our programs. And let's get serious about funding resources in our communities that we can partner with, such as appropriate mental health services for adolescents.

Our collective mission has always been to be there for young people who have no where else to turn, let's not become just one more system that shuts the door on them.

It has been awhile since I posted, in large part because I have been assisting at our agency with a grant directed at engaging youth through non-residential means. This got me started thinking about the changing face of social services and more specifically how youth shelters are providing programming that does more than simply providing shelter.

As an agency we are engaging a fairly diverse cross-section of 12-23 year olds in our community through several distinct programs.

Shelter House:

• We currently serve 12 - 17 (364 days) in a 24 bed shelter. youth and families are provided case management services leading to service referrals, service coordination, Family Team Meetings, etc.... Last year the 792 youth we served stayed on average 6 days. This is our oldest program but it continues to change with the times. Last year less than 15 of our residents were state contracted placements. The vast majority of our youth that we serve are walk-in or Project Safe Place youth.

Y-NOW

• Is the mentoring component of our agency. While this program has worked through numerous funding streams with different populations historically, they currently serve middles school aged youth with one (or more) parents currently incarcerated. The program matches youth with mentors for a one year commitment.

Outreach

• Deals with raising community awareness of Safe Place. It is similar to what other Safe Place coordinators do nation wide.
• Street Out reach works with young adults in the street. Case management is provided as well as referrals to housing. We currently have limited immediate housing for youth in need as well as agreements with area adult shelters to assist our youth.

Field Release

• When Youth in Louisville commit a non-detainable offense they are brought to our agency, a needs assessment is completed. When the youth's guardian comes to Shelter to pick them up mediation, appropriate referrals, and Shelter are offered. Since this program began in in August of 2005 we have served 1046 youth through this program.

I mention these programs because I would like to share what we are doing locally. More importantly I would love to hear about the other programs being offered by agencies around the country. I know that we are all facing different demographics and regional issues, but I feel like there is much to be learned through the sharing of information...

Are you aware that more than 1.5 million teenagers run away in the United States every year? This is an alarming number, and it is our duty as youth service professionals, parents and concerned adults to not only assist those teens in crisis, but also to educate the public about the magnitude of the RHY population.

The best thing we can do for those teens is to ensure that they are educated on the services available to them, as well as the dangers of running away. There are many programs, Safe Place included, that are dedicated to outreach and education to our children and teens. In our Safe Place outreach, we also discuss topics such as abuse, healthy relationships and conflict resolution.

I'm also excited to see the growth of using technology in youth outreach. Through texting, the internet, and specifically social networking, (see Bill's April 3 post) agencies are meeting children where they are to offer resources and support.

Parents need to be aware of and prepared to face this issue. They need to be trained to look for warning signs from their teens (separate from "normal teen turmoil"), and know what to do if their teen runs away. Runawayteens.org suggests warning signs such as sleep changes, personality changes, school problems and withdrawl from family and friends. The site emphasizes trusting your "gut" when you feel that something may be wrong with your teen. Adults also need to be made aware of local resources and encouraged to use them when necessary.

Please share your thoughts. What does your agency do to expand RHY knowledge in your community? What resources do you have to share with other agencies, teens or parents?

The Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act is up for Reauthorization again and while this 34 year old Act has served us well, the appropriation remains woefully inadequate to meet even a fraction of the need. Programs must put a patchwork of grants and contracts together to fund just the basic services. This patchwork often results in conflicting requirements around age, length of stay, and more.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was one statute and set of regulations that could be applied to all RHY services....

In June 2008 the American Bar Association and the National Network for Youth will be joining forces to develop model laws in myriad areas that affect homeless youth. One model to be developed is State RHY statutes.

I want to know what you have to say about what should be in a model law.

• Should there be separate legislation for runaway youth and homeless youth - in other words two laws instead of one?
• What is the ideal length of stay for crisis? For transitional?
• Should confidentiality have limits? If so, what should those exceptions be?
• What rights should parents have? The right to be informed, or the larger right to consent?
• What are the ages of the youth who need services? Is cutting off the age at 21 still good enough?
• Should states insolate programs from liability as long as the program is in compliance with appropriate regulations?
• What else should be in a model law?

We all will be looking at hard times in the very near future. (Harder still than the times we are in.) The Federal Government is broke and States are struggling with huge deficits. Now may be the best time to put together a strong set of statutes that will protect the young people, families and communities that are traditionally the hardest hit when the budget ax falls.

The Associated Press profiles the National Runaway Switchboard and the gaps in available to youth looking to flee troubled situations. AP writer Martha Irvine does an excellent job reporting in talking with both national leaders (NRS, National Network 4 Youth and National Safe Place) as well as local practitioners and former Safe Place youth Rusty Booker. The story is both linked and run in its entirety below:

Life on the Streets Get Tougher By Martha Irvine, Associated Press 04/07/08?

CHICAGO (AP) - The young caller's voice is high-pitched and trembling.

Her mother's been drinking, she says. They got into a fistfight, so the girl grabbed her backpack and a cell phone and bolted, with little thought about where a 13-year-old could go on a cold night.

Hiding in an alley off her rural hometown's deserted main street, she calls the only phone number she can think of: 1-800-RUNAWAY.

"I just don't feel like I'm taken care of like a daughter should be," the girl tells the volunteer who answers the phone at the National Runaway Switchboard. She stutters between sobs and shivers.

Her story is a common one at the Chicago-based hot line, which handles well over 100,000 calls each year, many from troubled young people who are dealing with increasingly difficult issues.

National Runaway Switchboard data provided exclusively to The Associated Press shows that the overall number of young callers facing crises that jeopardized their safety rose from 13,650 in 2000 to 15,857 last year. About two-thirds of the latter figure were young people who were thinking of running away, had already done so or had been thrown out of the house.

Federally funded since the 1970s, the National Runaway Switchboard is regarded by people who work with troubled youth as an organization that provides one of the best overviews of the shadowy world of teenage runaways, which is difficult to track.

The group's statistics showed that callers are getting younger and that 6,884 crisis callers last year said they had been abused or neglected, compared with 3,860 in 2000. That is a 78 percent increase.

Some callers just want someone to talk to, about problems at home or with friends. Others who have already run away use the hot line to exchange messages with their families - to let them know they're OK, or to arrange a free bus ticket home.

Some are desperate for a place to stay, for safety, for options.

"I'm scared of my parents, and I don't want to go back there. Please don't make me!" pleaded the 13-year-old girl who called this particular night.

The information she gave the hot line checked out. However, her name and other identifying details could not be included for this story because the National Runaway Switchboard guarantees callers confidentiality.

It also quickly became apparent to volunteer Megan McCormick - who has been trained to spot the occasional crank call - that this girl's fear was real.

"I know it must be really scary," said McCormick, a graduate student in social work at the University of Chicago. As they spoke, she checked the call center's extensive computer database for shelters in the girl's hometown.

The closest was in a larger city, 40 minutes away. But when McCormick called, she was told they didn't take anyone younger than 14.

Such scenarios are common in many regions of the country, particularly rural areas where resources for runaways are scarce. Further complicating the matter, the Runaway Switchboard has found that more crisis callers than ever are 14 and younger - 1,255 in that age group in 2000, compared with 1,844 last year.

"The reality is, there are not always services available for kids who are calling," says Maureen Blaha, executive director of the National Runaway Switchboard, which began as a Chicago area crisis hot line in 1971 and went national three years later. "We try to be as creative as we can be to find solutions. But there isn't always a simple answer."

Others in the youth services field concur.

They note that while the number of shelters and other organizations that help runaways have slowly increased over the decades, they have been unable to keep pace with the demand. Many institutions also lack the resources to deal with the severity of issues young people face today.

"The population is much more disturbed than the runaways who were being seen 20 or 30 years ago," says Victoria Wagner, chief executive of the National Network for Youth, a coalition of agencies that serve troubled young people. "There are more mental health issues, more substance abuse, more coming from violent home situations."

Long-standing government support for the Runaway Switchboard has been a vital component in addressing the problem, Wagner says. But, she adds, federal dollars for shelters and other services, also through the Runaway Youth Act, have remained largely stagnant since it first passed in the 1970s. So she and others are pressing Congress for more.

It's a tough sell in trying economic times. But the irony, Wagner says, is that when people are unemployed and families are struggling, young people are even more likely to have reason to run.

The 13-year-old girl who has called the Runaway Switchboard sounds even more anguished when McCormick tells there are no shelters in her area that will take her.

"So there's nowhere I can go?" she says in disbelief.

Several times McCormick asks about other options, but the girl says she has none.

She says her friends' parents would only take her back home. Relatives, whom she rarely sees, live out of state. And she seems even more afraid of her father than her mom, claiming that her parents divorced because he was abusive.

Even so, she has little doubt that one or both of her parents will soon be out looking for her.

That's not the case for many other runaways, who are thrown out of home for anything from being gay to exhibiting aggressive behavior.

"Ninety-eight percent of the time, it's the parents saying, No, take them.' They're the throwaway kids," says Bill Hogan, program manager at the Haven W. Poe Runaway Shelter in Tampa, Fla. He recently reunited a 10-year-old boy with his grandmother, who had told police to keep him.

Neglect also has changed the face of the runaway, says Kathleen Boutin, executive director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, which is getting more requests for help from children of methamphetamine addicts.

For those 12 to 18, Nevada now has a "Right to Shelter" law, which allows organizations to provide emergency housing, food and clothing without parental consent.

Indiana is another state that recently passed a comprehensive law for homeless youth with a similar provision, but limited the age to 16 and older.

"It's a beginning," says Cynthia Smith, executive director of the Youth Service Bureau in Evansville, Ind. Right now, her area has no youth shelter - but she hopes the new law will help change that.

In New York, however, a bill requiring safe-houses and other services for sexually exploited youth stalled in January. And in Wyoming, runaways often still spend the night in jail.

It's a mind-set that Rusty Booker, an 18-year-old former runaway from Louisville, Ky., hopes will change.

Last year, he told members of Congress how, at age 12, he ran away from an abusive home. He got help at a library affiliated with National Safe Place, an organization with more than 16,000 locations nationally where young people are put in touch with local crisis workers.

Still, many communities that want to establish Safe Places are turned down because they have few or no services to offer runaways.

Nine states have no Safe Places at all. That includes the home of the 13-year-old girl who was on the line with the Runaway Switchboard for more than an hour.

Several times, she adamantly refused to call the local sheriff or to get child protective services involved.

"All this stuff that's going on, it's just really overwhelming," she told McCormick, the call center volunteer. "I don't want my mom to go to jail. I can't do that to my family."

Eventually, though, she changed her mind. She asked McCormick to stay on the line while she spoke with a county social worker and then the sheriff.

"I've kind of run away from home," the girl told the sheriff's dispatch operator. "I need somewhere to stay."

McCormick waited on the line until a sheriff's deputy found her and picked her up. Finally, the girl was safe and members of the Runaway Switchboard staff looked relieved.

"You get used to some aspects of this," says Cori Ballew, a Runaway Switchboard supervisor who oversaw the call. "But you never get used to some of it, especially when it ends with no resolution."

Some runaways, like this one, find help of some kind, she says.

Others, faced with few choices, hang up.

It should come as no surprise that as technology continues to evolve that it was only a matter of time until social networking became the new form of outreach for working with RHYA youth. I just wanted to post some initial observations and ask some questions of those who have been outreaching on the net for longer than we have here in Louisville.

Initially when we started to look at the opportunities presented by My Space, Facebook, etc.. many questioned how many of the youth we serve actually have social networking accounts. I can not speak for everywhere, but the answer with our youth was almost all have a My Space and quite a few have Facebook. Locally the majority of our youth access there sites by circumventing fire walls at school and accessing the sites through proxies or by simply going to the library to access their accounts. I would imagine this is the case in more areas than not.

With the knowledge that the vast majority of our youth have accounts and access them regularly, we set forth with the best way to use this constantly evolving medium to the benefit of our agency and much more importantly the youth and families we serve. In addition to allowing youth ways to contact us at their leisure in a confidential way, we are also able to get information out quickly, freely, and in bulk. In other words we can reach more youth with significantly less effort quickly and efficiently.

While our pages are still in the very early stages of development they have already shown promise of fulfilling their purpose. We have now started to ask youth for their email address at intake and are sending them friend requests shortly after discharge as a way for them to stay informed about what is going on at our Shelter and as another way for them to access resources if necessary.

I would be interested in hearing from other agencies about how they have used their pages and what their thoughts are about their effectiveness. I am excited about the opportunities that social networking will have in allowing each of our agencies to inform the public at large and to maintain an open door to the youth we have served...

As always... Keep up the good fight and many blessings for the important work that each of you do....

Here is an example of YMCA Safe Place Services Shelter House's My Space page.... http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361997946&MyToken=1691274c-c61e-4fa5-b258-2ddea547289f

Here is National Safe Places My Space page with links to other programs accross the country http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=196609327

Finally our agency also allows Facebook users to become a fan and keep up with our efforts locally. (Feel free to become a fan :) ) http://www.facebook.com/pages/YMCA-Safe-Place-Services/9172910679

Not much shocks me, but the news about New York's now former Governor, Eliot Spitzer, left me speechless.

It's not about the sex. New York's brand new Governor, David Paterson, has already admitted to a series of affairs. It is about a betrayal of trust - the trust inherent in an elected official's obligation to protect all the people - especially the most vulnerable among us.

There are many who see the Eliot Spitzer scandal and just another sex scandal. In fact the University of Chicago Law School's distinguished professor, Martha Nussbaum quoted in the current issue of The New Yorker states "[a] man who did what Spitzer did would have a lot to discuss with his wife and family [but] ... it would be laughable to accuse him of a betrayal of the public trust."

Exactly what 'public' is she talking about? The public comprised of latte sipping law professors. Certainly not the public comprised of young people who, like the young woman in this case, find themselves homeless at age 17.

Prostitution is not a victimless crime. Most young people involved in the commercial sex industry have long histories of abuse. Eliot Spitzer knows this. Eliot Spitzer signed into law New York's first and only legislation protecting victims of human trafficking by going after traffickers and johns. New York's laws include domestic and international victims of trafficking. Eliot Spitzer signed the law because he understood the nature of the problem and how young people get caught in the web or traffickers, including pimps and high end "escort services".

Every one of our young people, runaway, homeless, street-involved, vulnerable, has been betrayed by the Mr. Spitzer and those who continue to see no wrong in what he did.

Youth Today, a leading trade publication that focuses on youth work, has launched a new Web site at http://www.youthtoday.org/. Most youth work professionals are probably familiar with Youth Today, but if you're not I urge you to visit their site at sign up for a free 10-day trial. It's easily worth the subscription rate for ten issues a year ($29.50 for one year or $54 for three).

Youth Today's old Web site was scant on content but the new version includes all the content you'll find in the print publication, plus online updates, the ability to comment and staff bios etc. Check it out.

For the last 7 years the second Thursday of each month has meant one thing for YMCA Safe Place Services Shelter House, the monthly Kentuckiana Childcare Coalition meeting. For our organization this group has proven to be a life saver in recent years. The concept is a simple, take all the area service providers for teens (residential, psych hospitals, out patient counseling, Juvenile Justice, in-home services, CPS, Job Corps, Independent Living, etc..) and put them in the same room for one hour a month to update the others about new developments at their agencies. Additionally these meetings often take on the purpose of networking and helping to identify ways to find services for particularly difficult clients to locate accessible services for locally. I can not begin to do justice to how much these relationships have helped me over the years in serving the clients who have come through our Shelter.

I eluded in a previous post to the fact that Shelter has become a catch all in recent years for a large number of our community's youth who seemingly have nowhere else to access services. There are more youth every year that have serious psychological and behavioral issues who do not reach an acuity to warrant hospitalization or detention. There are also numerous kids who are in homes that are not healthy environments but do not reach the point of justifying removal from child welfare. In all of these instances shelter has become the answer for helping these teens in crisis. Obviously this has led to record numbers of youth being served by our shelter annually. When I started at Safe Place in 2001 we served about 400 kids that year residentially. Last year we served 792 residentially and well over 500 through field release (but that is a future post). Believe me, the only way we have been able to achieve these numbers is through solidifying our relationships with community partners. There is no way that a staff of 4 case managers would ever be able to keep tabs on 800 kids over the course of a year (not to mention those kids who came before) without the collaborative assistance of community partners.

I decided to bring this issue up for a few reasons. First, I remember the struggle we used to have when we as an agency tried to be all things to all people. While noble this is a foolish goal. Our best years have been the last few when we have worked on strengthening the services youth receive while they are here and concentrated on making community relationships to assist youth once they leave our agency. I hope our experience will potentially cause others to explore the benefit of collaborative efforts in their own communities. Second, I wanted to get some feedback from other shelters to see what networking is going on in their areas and what tools they use to stay abreast of the ever changing services being provided in their communities. Finally, I wanted to publically give kudos to all those in my hometown of Louisville fighting the good fight to provide the best possible services to the youth of our community. Obviously funding streams have not exactly been overflowing in recent years, but I feel like collaboration has proven to be effective despite dwindling resources.

As always, keep up the good fight. As for me, I have a meeting to finish getting ready

Rusty Booker shakes hands with Rep. John Yarmuth.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) announced today that he and Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) will introduce the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act tomorrow in Congress. The announcement was held at YMCA Safe Place Services, the agency that serves runaway and homeless youth in Louisville, Ky. Here are some additional details from Monday's event:

Yarmuth Announces Major Legislation to Strengthen Programs helping Runaway & Homeless Youth Introduction of five-year authorization comes after Louisvillians testify in Washington Office of Congressman John Yarmuth, 03/03/08

Today, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) announced his new legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, which is the main source of federal funding for disconnected youth outside of the foster care and juvenile justice system. The current law expires at September 30, 2008.

For too long, despite the best efforts from within the community, the government has been failing millions of kids, Yarmuth said. Thanks to the work and expertise that we have right here in Louisville, the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act will refocus our resources and give America a real shot to eradicate youth homelessness forever.

There are far too many young people that need help but are not aware of the services offered through runaway and homeless youth shelters, said Sandy Bowen, executive director of National Safe Place. The reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, with an increased appropriation, allows for additional outreach work to occur at local levels to prevent young people from running from home. Reaching youth earlier significantly impacts their opportunities for positive outcomes to difficult situations.

Funds from Runaway and Homeless Youth Act provide about 20 percent of our annual budget, said Dennis Enix, Executive Director of YMCA Safe Place, Without this funding source we would not be able to provide the support that young people and their families desperately need in our community.

The bill's introduction is the latest step in a process in which Louisville has played a key role. Last July, Yarmuth invited Louisvillian, Rusty Booker, then 17, to testify at the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities' hearing on Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children: Perspectives on Helping the Nation's Vulnerable Youth. Rusty testified click here to watch testimony about his own experience with abuse, running away at the age of 12, his placement in five failed foster homes, and finally finding a path to independence with the help of Safe Place.

I had no family and no home and at this point, no future, Rusty said in his testimony. When I got to the shelter the staff welcomed me. I felt safe for the first time in many years. Rusty, now 18, is working toward his GED and plans to attend college soon.

Each day we meet four or five new Rustys, and each year we serve approximately 800 kids and their families through our shelter, said Bill Thompson, residential case manager for YMCA Safe Place Services who accompanied Rusty to Washington and first began working with him in 2002. Reauthorizing RHYA will allow us to not only better the services that already exist, but will allow us and other agencies across the country to serve more kids just like Rusty every year.

Rusty's testimony and a local forum the Congressman hosted on disconnected youth helped Yarmuth craft the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act, which he will introduce this Tuesday with Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL-13).

This legislation reauthorizes and strengthens the federal runaway and homeless youth programs for five years, authorizing an increase of over 50 percent more than last year; $150 million for residential services and $3 million for runaway prevention. The measure will improve outreach and preventative care, establish emergency management plans, and develop a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda.

Check back later this week when we will take a deeper look at some of the details in the new legislation.

Just wanted to share with everyone that we just held a press conference with Congressman Yarmuth Ky-D3 to announce that he will be introducing the legislation for the reauthorization of RHYA tomorrow in congress. I am happy beyond words that this important legislation is being introduced and that the ask is being made by my local congressman.

As each of you know there is a growing need nationwide for services for Homeless and Runaway youth. It seems with each passing year each of our agencies are being asked to do more with less and it will be helpful to hopefully receive increased funding allocations at a congressional level. We could argue all day as to why systems are failing America's youth at an alarming rate, but none of us on the front lines can deny that life is certainly not easy for teens in America today. As more and more teens are experiencing turmoil in their family lives at a local level it has felt like we have become a catch-all for our communities deficits when it comes to serving teens.

A youth is beyond the control of their parents but has done nothing to warrant detention, we fill that void.

A Youth has mental health issues but lacks the resources to get treatment, the savvy to navigate the system or the acuity to warrant hospitalization. We fill that void.

A youth is a teen whose mother is being battered but DV centers lack the space to allow families to stay together, we fill that need.

I think you see where I am going with this. Regardless of why other systems are unable to meet the needs of the kids we serve, the reality is that they do. It is important to note that none of the instances listed above are what an "Average American adult" would think of when you say Runaway and Homeless youth. However, I am sure all of you read those examples and said to yourself, "Yes we get those kids too." Funding will only do so much to meet the needs of these youth. It is my hope that all of us are working hard to change the perception our communities harbor toward youth served by RHYA programs. Additionally, it is imperative that all of us do our part to articulate the needs of our communities in real and meaningful ways.

Juvenile detention centers, psychiatric treatment facilities, foster care, congregate care are not a fix all for any community. We all know that most kids, with the appropriate preventative intervention can be steered clear of these facilities. This type of intervention requires a level of resources though that most communities currently lack. What's more, even for those youth served by the above mentioned establishments, they all leave sometime and normally will end up with us after their stays in those facilities. Please take the opportunity created by the announcement of this reauthorization to engage your local media, community partners, etc. about the importance this type of funding makes to the community at large.

Today was certainly a first step. Passage is never a certainty. But I think we can all agree that if any field can celebrate the significance of a positive first step in the right direction, it is ours. Keep up the good fight...

Bill

Here's a lead-in story to tomorrow's announcement from Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) of new legislation that would reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

Federal Program that Helps Thousands of Runaways Could End WDRB-41 (FOX), 03/01/08

Funds could soon go away that would otherwise help some of the thousands of children and teens who run away from home every year. Right now, there are several hundred places across the city where runaways can go and get help but a federal program that makes that possible is about to end.

Rusty Booker, Homeless youth says, "I had no family and no home and at this point, no future." 18-year-old Booker of Louisville testified before a U.S. House Subcommittee in Washington DC recently. Booker says, "My stepfather came home every night drunk and would beat my mom." After running away from home at the age of 12. Rusty spent the next several years on the streets of Louisville and in and out of foster care.

Josh Abner is communications director for National Safe Place. Booker says, "I went to a library that had a safe place sign on the front." The organization has helped Rusty and thousands of other runaway and homeless teens across Kentuckiana.

Abner says, "Of those one to three million young people who are runaway and homeless every year approximately half of them list family problems are the number one reason why that they fled their situation or why they're homeless." Abner says safe place provides temporary housing for runaways but the ultimate goal is to return them to their homes.

"The young people who we're able to serve we're able to reunited approximately 90 percent of those families." Abner continues. Congressman John Yarmuth says, "If we don't act now these services which have meant so much to so many people like Rusty will not be operative."

3rd District Congressman Yarmuth is working on legislation that will continue the main source of federal funding for runaway and homeless youth. Yarmuth says, "This will be a program that will be a hundred and $50 million nationwide per year."

The money will be used to fund a number of programs including safe place. A place Rusty Booker believes changed his life. Booker says, "When I got to the shelter the staff welcomed me. I felt safe for the first time in many years."

On Monday, Congressman John Yarmuth will announce new legislation to continue the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

Click here to watch the full story.

This is exciting news for those who work with runaway and homeless youth. Check back Monday more details of the proposed legislation are released.

This media advisory just came from Rep. John Yarmuth's office on the reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA).

This Monday, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) will announce his new legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, the main source of federal funding for disconnected youth outside of the foster care and juvenile justice system.

Last July, Yarmuth invited Louisvillian, Rusty Booker to testify before the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities hearing on "Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children: Perspectives on Helping the Nation's Vulnerable Youth." Rusty testified click here to watch testimony about his own experience with abuse, running away at the age of 12, his placement in five failed foster homes, and finally finding a path to independence with the help of Safe Place. Rusty will be attending college in the fall.

Rusty's testimony and a local forum the Congressman hosted on disconnected youth helped Yarmuth craft the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act, which he will introduce this Tuesday with Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL-13).

This legislation reauthorizes and strengthens the federal runaway and homeless youth programs for five years and provides $150 million for residential services and $3 million for runaway prevention. The measure will improve outreach, establish emergency management plans, and develop a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda.

Rusty and Bill Thompson, Residential Case Manager for YMCA Safe Place Services, will reunite with Yarmuth for Monday's announcement

This is great news for the runaway and homeless youth community. An increase of the total authorization level to $150 million would represent more than a 42 percent increase from the last stated authorization level of $105 million for fiscal year 2004. This follows level-funding of RHY programs between $102-104 million from fiscal years 2002-2007. Only since the Rep. Yarmuth has taken the lead on this legislation have we seen any appopriations increase (fiscal year 2008 = $113 million) in recent years.

Check back Monday for more updates.

I just wanted to write a quick post about another great new?novel that touches on the issue of runaway and homeless youth. Charles Bock's, "Beautiful Children," (published by Random House) focuses on the street culture of Las Vegas and debuted at No. 27 on the New York Times Best Seller list, quite an achievement for any author, let alone someone penning their first novel. The book centers around the disappearance of 12-year-old Newell Ewing. Bock doesn't duck punches on the issues surrounding youth who are forced to the streets -- dumpster diving for meals, drug use etc. -- and brings in a wealth of characters to show the not-so-glitzy side of Sin City that tourists rarely see.

Critical praise is piling up as The New York Times, USA Today and Newsweek, among others, have all written glowing reviews. If you visit the book's Web site by Feb. 29 you can download "Beautiful Children" for free in its ENTIRETY. If you don't make it to the site in time to download the entire book, you can still read the first chapter here.

The release of "Beautiful Children" comes on the heels of Jessica Blank's debut young adult novel "Almost Home" (Hyperion Books for Children) that focuses on seven homeless teens in L.A. living together in a makeshift family (Full disclosure: Blank serves on the board of directors for National Safe Place). "Almost Home" came out in October with the first chapter available on the National Safe Place Web site.

Both books offer a poignant look at youth in crisis, but also offer solutions with resource sections that include links to national runaway and homeless youth organizations such as the National Runaway Switchboard, Covenant House and National Safe Place. "Almost Home" is already being fast-tracked for the big screen after rock star/homeless advocate Jon Bon Jovi purchased the film rights and plans to make it his first movie project from behind the camera.

These two books, coupled with other efforts in the past year such as Virgin Mobile's "Homeless Youth Among Us" campaign with singer Jewel as a spokeswoman, have significantly raised the profile of runaway and homeless youth. This added exposure couldn't come at a better time with Congress set to consider reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act in the coming weeks.

Keeping in line with the Valentine's Day theme, I'm pleased to announce National Safe Place has published a second edition of "Heart of the Matter." First published in 2003, "Heart of the Matter" reflects the difficulties youth can experience in growing up and their hope for a brighter future. The youth whose work has been selected were either residents at runaway and homeless youth shelters or learned about Safe Place through local school and community education.

Forty youth and seven youth service professionals from across the nation were selected for the book. To view a PDF of "Heart of the Matter", click here.

I wanted to share with you the grand prize literary entry. It's written by Whitney (last name witheld for confidentiality), 16, of Salt Lake City and aptly titled "Heart of the Matter."

"Heart of the Matter"
Whitney, 16
Salt Lake County Youth Services

The heart of the matter is does it matter, how our hearts feel
when we have no place to go for help but to our peers, because adults think we'll just figure it out in a few years.
When we're searching for a way out but the only offers we receive are drugs,
because the only people who listen are our peers who are just as lost as us.
I'm not in control of my life right now but I'd really like to know,
that i have somewhere to go
when mom and dad are fighting,
and i cant bear it any longer,
When i made a big mistake,
and my clothes can't hide it any longer
When i hung in long enough,
and i can't be any stronger.
When the only relief i get comes in crimson red.
When he touched me the wrong way,
and i know no one believes me,
When the guy i'm with is leaving bruises all over my body,
but no one cares enough to ask where their from.
When i'm alone all week with no food in the fridge,
and i'm taking care of my fathers kids while he works out of town
since mom isn't around.
When i need help with problems at school,
and my friends don't have the answers,
I'd like to have a place to go, not just any place a "safe place" when
my problems are bigger than i am and i need someone to be, here
for me, to help get my heart feeling better about the matter.

With it being Valentine's Day I wanted to post a question to start a dialogue. This is an open thread to the following questions:

What do you love about your job? What makes you passionate about working with youth?

Post your thoughts in the Comments section. The staff at the National Safe Place office will review the responses early next week and send a copy of "Almost Home," the new young adult novel about seven homeless youth living in Los Angeles by author Jessica Blank, to the most thoughtful response(s).

Happy Valentine's Day.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) has served as the main federal funding source for emergency youth shelters across the U.S. since it was first enacted in 1974.

RHYA primarily funds three programs: the Basic Center Program (BCP), the Transitional Living Program (TLP) and the Street Outreach program (SOP).? We here at Safety Net for Youth will be explaining more about these three programs in the coming weeks, but I first wanted to share an op-ed from U.S. Representative John Yarmuth (KY-3) that ran in The Hill earlier this week.

RHYA expires in September and must be reauthorized if the more than 350 agencies across the country are to continue receiving federal funding. Rep. Yarmuth has shown his passion for supporting this issue of disconnected and homeless youth in taking the lead in reauthorizing this crucial piece of legislation. Please read his words below.

We Must Pass the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act Rep. John Yarmuth (KY-3) 02/04/08, The Hill

A year ago, when the walls of my office were still bare and I was asking directions to get to hearings, representatives of National Safe Place first paid me a visit. The problems we discussed were not at all new to me - I chose to be on the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee to work on these very issues - but our meeting helped transform a position into purpose.

We in the freshman class arrived in Washington determined to restore faith in America's future, and readying a new generation of Americans is key. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gaveled in the 110th Congress surrounded on the dais by children, she sent a signal that America's youth were a top priority. We sought reforms of higher education, a doubling of the child tax credit, safer inspections of toys and food, measures to clean the air we breathe and an expansion of SCHIP.

Now, with the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act about to expire, we must also turn our attention to the country's disconnected youth - a problem that is not acceptable in the future we wanted to help build.

The facts are astounding and devastating. As many as 3 million minors experience disconnection. Some of them are born homeless, but most run away to escape mental, emotional or physical abuse. More than a third of them - roughly a million children - are victims of sexual abuse in the home. A third of them attempt suicide. For these young people hope is a distant concept, and the future is little more than a dead end.

Numbers don't lie, but they offer little perspective into the reality these young people face day to day. I worked with my colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee to hold a hearing on disconnected youth. Seventeen-year-old Rusty Booker, formerly a troubled youth, from my district in Louisville who has struggled with physical and emotional abuse, testified before the committee. Rusty's compelling story illustrated how a boy with seemingly no future and all odds against him could find success when the proper resources were employed. Safe Place had helped give Rusty hope. He turned his life around and is preparing to enter college in the fall. They gave him a home, guidance and the support that every child needs.

Still, for every success story like Rusty's, there are far too many who don't receive the help needed to right one's path. With the proper investment, millions of disconnected youth can find the life-saving assistance that Rusty found, but if we don't act quickly to reauthorize RHYA, their best hope could fade into obscurity.

Rusty offered the foundation of momentum I hope to build upon with legislation I will introduce to reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). This bill, the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act, will do more than reauthorize the old bill through 2013 it will provide significant improvements and much needed expansions. Our top priority was guaranteeing the organizations that work for disconnected youth have the full funding they need, because they already work to provide the tools kids need to reconnect - Safe Place has reached more than 100,000 children in my home state of Kentucky alone. The bill more than doubles RHYA funding to $200 million per year, to ensure that the resources are in place for community-serving organizations to reach every kid in need. Specifically, the bill will increase the RHYA Basic Center Program allotments for small states, add public entities as eligible applicants for Street Outreach Program funds, establish grantee performance standards, and create a process for developing a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda.

The solutions are within our grasp, but it will take real leadership from Congress to ensure that help reaches all who need it. If we recommit ourselves to solving the problem, we can eradicate the crisis forever.

The progress that we have made in the past year is significant. Still more significant will be the advances down the road. As we work to restore faith in this nation's future, we must build an America where every child has a chance to learn, succeed, and at the very least, have a place to call home.

Yarmuth is a member of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Look for more information on Safety Net For Youth as we work to support Rep. Yarmuth's efforts in not only reauthorizing but strengthening RHYA.