From the Editor This issue of the
BCIFV Newsletter is dedicated to runaways and street
kids in their search for identity and purpose. Interviews
and articles from service providers are interspersed
with poetry from street youth.
Most often today we hear about youth gangs, crime
and the shortcomings of the Young Offenders Act. But
kids on the street form a separate and misunderstood
segment of youth today.
All too often street youth fear accessing the helping
services, because they have learned that our laws are
written for adults. The service providers who work with
these youth, some of whom contributed articles for this
newsletter, work strenuously to reach out to these kids
past the barriers of patriarchal systems.
Youth on the street deserve our protection from pedophilic
adults who buy their bodies and those who sell them
drugs. It's time our society demanded the prosecution
and treatment of abusing adults and more resources for
vulnerable youth.
Barbara Sherman
POETRY
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