Thirteen teenage editors of "Children's Express" investigated the dropout crisis by talking with teenagers who had quit school, with those who had returned to give it a second chance (back-to-schoolers), and with others who were fighting at all odds to hang in there (hangers-in). Hundreds of youth from five American cities--Newark, Boston, Kansas…

This document contains the National One to One Mentoring Partnership kit, designed to help users better understand what mentoring is and how they can support it in its many variations. The National One to One Mentoring Partnership is described as a new coalition mobilized to provide mentoring opportunities to youth, with the goal of giving every…

This report provides information about the major issues affecting Maryland's children and youth. Pertinent data, trends, and directions are presented. The report focuses on 10 major issues and presents each issue through relevant statistics, current state involvement, and directions for the future. The 10 issues covered in the report are: (1)…

Parents of missing children, juvenile division police officers, and members of citizen action groups provide testimony in a Senate hearing held to learn more about problems associated with the disappearance of a child from his or her family. Related publications, including a September, 1981 directory of missing persons, are appended after the…

A review of the history and literature about the runaway child in America reveals that young people from poor families have always viewed running away as a reasonable way of leaving a poverty stricken home. For many adolescents, running away has been a response to an unhealthy family or work situation, and at times it has been a problem-solving…

At many points within the juvenile justice system, there is evidence of differential treatment of male and female juveniles. Nearly 75% of females under 18 who are arrested and incarcerated are charged with status offenses such as disobeying their parents, promiscuity, running away and other acts for which adults cannot be charged and boys…

Interviews with 489 runaway and homeless youth (often victims of abuse and neglect) identified two groups: (1) "runners," who leave home intending not to return and (2) "in and outers," who run away as an impulsive temporary coping mechanism. Risk of engaging in illegal activity increased with distance and time away. (Author/VW)

The "new homeless" of the eighties and nineties are not only more numerous; they are younger, more likely to use drugs, and they exhibit symptoms of mental illness. Homeless mentally ill individuals typically have estranged family relationships and fewer supportive relationships compared with other homeless persons. They typically have…

Describes running away from home as a family affair. Suggests the "status offender" legal jurisdiction over runaways should be changed and new alternatives for dealing with runaways and their families developed. Proposes these alternatives should be informed with the perspectives of a family therapeutic approach sensitive to intergenerational…

Presents taxonomy of hostility toward street children: (1) penal-instructive hostility based on punishing children for inappropriate behavior; (2) collective frustrated hostility based on ethnocentric social class attitudes toward the poor; and (3) cultural hostility, accounted for by differences attributed to sedentary and nomadic peripatetic…

Studies the modes of and condition at exit of 585 children who left the care of the Casey Family Program. The research reveals a number of significant relationships between certain conditions, circumstances, and characteristics of the children previous to admission, and their condition upon departure from agency care. (Author/BB)

Based on a records analysis, the rural youth at increased risk for reentering emergency shelters were adolescent females living in a step-family or female-headed household. Older children reentering care were unlikely to return home. Community-based services are needed to prevent the ongoing cycle of children in emergency shelters and subsequent…

Attempts to identify the psychological characteristics that predispose certain children to run away and to survive, often for long periods, on the streets of South Africa. Examines vulnerability and resilience as well as social conditions that mediate the psychological predisposition to become a street child. (Author/GCP)

The Houston (Texas) Independent School District instructs 2,500 students annually that are homebound, hospitalized, or in agency settings through a separate campus called Community Services. Five administrators, 130 teachers, and 52 assistants operate the program. Teachers travel to the students and even though they are responsible for preparing…

A study of 244 street youth found that runaways receiving training in a peer-based intervention that included principles derived from the health belief model significantly increased their knowledge about HIV. Contrary to the health belief model, however, knowledge and greater perceived chance for HIV were associated with high risk behavior.…