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

  • Youth experiencing homelessness encounter many legal issues which cause barriers when they try to access services, education, employment programs, public benefits, and housing.

  • The legal rights of unaccompanied homeless youth vary between the states and U.S. territories. At the most basic level, whether a youth meets the statutory definition of homelessness determines what, if any, services he or she is eligible to receive.

  • Definitions of unaccompanied youth often fail to be inclusive, developmentally appropriate, and non-judgmental.

  • Many jurisdictions lag behind in implementing changes to federal law that strengthen access to education for youth experiencing homelessness.

Additional Resources

Obtaining ID Cards

For all people in America, access to valid government-issued photo identification is critical to fully accessing daily needs. Minor-aged youth experiencing homelessness face unique challenges in obtaining an ID.

Accelerating Collaboration Between Youth Homelessness Providers + Youth Policing and Incarceration Systems

This resource guide is intended to accelerate communities’ and systems’ progress in preventing and reducing the incidence of homelessness and negative system involvement among young people.

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.