Unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness face numerous legal barriers that often complicate their attempts to meet their basic needs and prevent them from obtaining assistance from state agencies and service providers who could otherwise help them. Further complicating matters is that many of these laws vary considerably on the state and local levels. This variation creates misinterpretations by service providers and avoidance of services on the part of youth experiencing homelessness (who may fear being taken into state custody or assume they will be turned away).
What You Need To Know
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A Key Strategy for Preventing Human Trafficking
Research from numerous studies has found trafficking rates among youth and young adults experiencing homelessness ranging from 19% to 40%. Although the varying populations and methods of these studies do not allow for a definitive number, this means, using the lower end estimates, that about 800,000 of the youth and young adults who experience homelessness in a year may also be victims of sex or labor trafficking in cities, suburbs, rural communities, and American Indian Reservations across the country.