WUNRN
http://www.nrcdv.org/rhydvtoolkit/common-ground/
RUNAWAY &
HOMELESS YOUTH, & RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE, TOOLKIT - GIRLS
Guidance and
Materials for Practitioners +
Runaway and
homeless youth agencies and domestic violence victims’ services providers share
a mutual goal: enhancing the safety and healing of young people living
situations marked by violence and abuse. Recognizing and understanding the
intersection of runaway and homeless youth and intimate partner violence
(including dating, domestic and sexual violence) is critical to creating
meaningful services and effective intervention and prevention strategies for
both homelessness and relationship abuse, and in creating partnerships between
the programs working with youth at risk.
Why is this
important?
Witnessing the
ongoing abuse of a parent or experiencing child abuse, threats, or actual
physical and sexual abuse are all too often the cause of youth running away or
being forced from their homes. A life on the streets often exposes them to
additional risks or victimization. What they have seen in an abusive home
environment or experienced on the street is often repeated by the youth
themselves in their own relationships. Because homeless youth have so little
control over their lives, using violence in relationships may be a way of
trying feel more in control. Runaway and homeless youth often have little
or no support systems and those being abused in a relationship may find it more
difficult to leave their abusive partner if they have no one to help them
understand what is happening and the options available to them.
Who is the Toolkit
for?
This Toolkit was
developed by and for advocates in the runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and
domestic and sexual assault (DV/SA) fields to help programs better address
relationship violence with runaway and homeless youth. The Toolkit organizes
information, resources, tips and tools drawn from the wealth of information
gathered when the two service systems were convened through local collaborative
projects funded by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The FYSB Initiative, which brought together domestic
violence programs and runaway and homeless youth agencies to address
relationship violence among homeless, runaway, and street youth. In this
Toolkit, DV/SA providers will find information designed to increase their understanding
of runaway and homeless youth and the network of programs and services working
with them and, conversely, RHY providers will find resources on intimate
partner violence and the programs and networks that provide protections and
support to victims of violence. An increased understanding and dialogue between
these systems at the service level can result in improved services overall.
· Identifying Shared Principles
· Developing a Common Language