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Running for their Lives: The Impact of Family Violence on Youth Homelessness

Anna McCormick

Due to the transient, often hidden, and ill-defined nature of the population of homeless and runaway youth (Kidd, 2003), it is extremely difficult to esti-mate exact numbers. However, research has estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 Canadian youth have no fixed address and live on the streets. (Webber, 1991; Ayerst, 1999) The estimated number of street youth living in large urban centres such as Toronto is thought to be between 10,000 and 20,000 annually. (Kidd 2003) More young people run away from home every year in British Columbia than in any other Canadian province. In 2002, over 15,000 BC adolescents (two-thirds of whom were girls) were reported missing to the RCMP. ‘Street kids’ have become the fastest-growing segment of the Canadian homeless population. (Ayerst, 1999)

NOT REBELS WITHOUT CAUSE

Historically, running away was considered an expression of a young person’s independence, or rebellion. More recent research acknowledges that many youth are running from dysfunctional and abusive families, rather than running toward anything. (Whitbeck and Hoyt, 1999) In recent years, there has been an increase in the numbers of young people leaving home due to family problems. (Fitzpatrick, 2000) ‘Negative push factors’ (Fitzpatrick, 2000), such as family violence, physical/sexual abuse, neglect, parental control, conflictual parent-child relationships, fear of the parent, and perceived parental indifference are the leading causes of young people’s decisions to leave home. The more urgent and prominent the push factors in a young person’s decision to leave home, the more problematic the transition to independence is likely to be. (Fitzpatrick, 2000)

In comparison with the general adolescent population, the vast majority of street youth experience multiple family-related problems at home. (Sherman, 1992) Homeless youth report feeling less parental love and less familial cohesion, and experiencing significantly more verbal and physical aggression and family conflict in general. (Wolfe, Toro, and McCaskill, 1999) Street youth also report a childhood lacking in affection and/or characterized by violence, (Craig and Hodson, 1998) low levels of family connectedness, (McCreary Centre Society, 2001) a higher incidence of behavioural and emotional problems and parental marital discord, and lower levels of parental care and acceptance. (Dadds, Braddock, Cuers, Elliot, and Kelly, 1993)

Reported rates of abuse in the research vary widely: different studies report rates of physical abuse between 16 and 80 percent among different samples of street youth, and rates of sexual abuse range from 5 to 77 percent. Almost three-quarters of all street youth in BC report abuse in the home, (McCreary Centre Society, 2001) and almost 80 percent of Canadian youth in another sample indicate that circumstances at home affected their decision to leave for the streets. (Caputo, Weiler, and Anderson, 1997) The vast majority of youth either believe that running away is the only option to escape abusive home environments, or are pushed out by parents (“thrown away”). Approximately half of homeless youth report that a parent decided that the adolescent should leave home. (Cauce, 2000; Rothman, 1991; Powers, Eckenrode, and Jaklitsch, 1990) Youth who are pushed or thrown out of their homes experience a particular type of neglect. (Wolfe, Toro, and McCaskill, 1999; Powers and Jaklitsch, 1989) Betrayal, manifested through neglect and abuse by parents and state-appointed caregivers, is said to be the most common experience among street youth. (Webber, 1991)

Family violence and abuse are often inseparable from other structural influences such as unemployment and poverty. (Fitzpatrick, 2000) Street youth describe their home situations as having been fraught with instability and unpredictability, manifested by concrete situations such as being in care, constantly moving, and living within a home environment characterized by parental substance misuse, emotional abuse, neglect, apathy, low levels of care/empathy/acceptance and support, rejection, betrayal, a lack of trust/privacy, chaos, poverty, parental unemployment, conflict, and homophobia. (McCreary Centre Society, 2002b)

INSULT TO INJURY: GLBT STREET YOUTH

Abused street youth are more likely than abused housed youth to self-identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgendered (GLBT) (McCreary Centre Society, 2002); and among street youth, GLBT youth experience significantly higher rates of physical and sexual abuse and neglect, compared to heterosexual street youth. (Tyler and Cauce, 2002) More specifically, male gay, bisexual, and unsure (GBU) youth report higher rates of physical abuse, while female GLBU youth report slightly higher rates of sexual abuse than heterosexual youth. (Noell and Ochs, 2001)

It is estimated that between 18 and 40 percent of Canadian homeless youth are gay or lesbian (Russell, 1998, as cited in Mayers, 2001) and an estimated 50 percent of street youth in Canada have sexual-identity issues. (Hodgson, 1996) Sexual orientation is often cited as the precipitating factor for leaving home, because some gay youth are no longer welcome within their families. (Buchanan, 1995) Homosexual youth experience varying types of abuse at home due to their sexual identity, from feelings of isolation and alienation, to conflict and strain with parents, to physical violence and sexual abuse. By leaving home, these youth “avoid abuse and maintain the family secret, but they also face a world that is prepared to exploit them.” (Savin-Williams, 1994: 264) GLBT youth face all the same obstacles to survival on the streets as heterosexual youth, as well as the stigma of sexual minority-group membership. Although many GLBT youth are reportedly most frequently assaulted by other (heterosexual) youth, approxi-mately half are also victims of parental physical abuse, and suffer both mental and physical health problems as a result. (Savin-Williams, 1994)

COPING AND SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES

Homeless adolescents who have been abused (while said to be less psycho-logically resilient) are more likely to associate with ‘deviant’ friends, and engage in criminal subsistence strategies on the streets (eg, selling drugs, prostitution, theft, robbery) to further their physical survival. (Whitbeck and Simons, 1990; McCreary Centre Society, 2002; Baron, 2003; Whitbeck, Hoyt, and Ackley, 1997b)

Fighting for Survival

Despite the abuse, and the existence of provincial authorities to address it, it is unrealistic to expect all abused adolescents to report the abuse due to fears of retaliation, re-victimization, being ignored, or being disbelieved; for many youth, running is equated with survival. (Kariel, 1993) However, living on the streets poses another set of challenges, which makes it difficult for a young person to avoid experiencing and engaging in violence, victimization, substance abuse, and other high risk or deviant behaviours in order to cope and survive.

Life-course theory helps explain the propensity to engage in high-risk subsistence strategies and, via “cumulative continuity,” the necessity of doing so. (Caspi, Bem, and Elder, 1987, as cited in Tyler, Hoyt, Whitbeck, and Cauce, 2001; as cited also in Whitbeck, Hoyt, Yoder, Cauce, and Paradise, 2001) Particularly relevant for males, coercive, abusive, exploitive, and aggressive behaviours which they have learned at home or on the streets, become coping and interaction styles, which can create conflict and ignite violence. This can lead to further rejection by pro-social peer groups, forcing youth to form ties with ‘deviant’ peer groups and become involved in risky or deviant behaviours and survival techniques or subsistence lifestyles. (Baron, 2003) Further entrenchment in ‘deviant’ lifestyles, increased substance abuse, and a lack of conventional ties results in increased risk of physical and sexual victimization for the young person.

Selling Body and Soul

According to one study in Toronto, 54 percent of street youth are engaged in prostitution. (Goldman, 1988, as cited in Sherman, 1992) Although running away itself has a dramatic effect on entry into prostitution in early adolescence, childhood sexual victimization nearly doubles the odds of entry into prostitution for young women. (McClanahan, McClelland, Abram, and Teplin, 1999)

“Though background specifics vary, child prostitutes tend to have experienced a deep and damaging divide between themselves and their parent(s) or substitute caregivers. Their family dynamics annihilated the child’s self-respect and sowed seeds of self-hatred that would later blossom into self-destruction. While physical abuse and neglect can precipitate the downward spiral, early sexual trauma may be the most prevalent shared experience among young hookers, especially girls. Prostitutes are twice as likely as typical Canadian adolescents to have had prepubescent sex accompanied by force or threat of force. The violation of fragile child sexuality, if it is combined with other family tensions or emotional deficiencies—whether in the child or in the family—makes the probability of catastrophe in puberty extremely high.” (Webber, 1991: 98-99)

Although not the most often engaged-in ‘deviant’ subsistence activity, sexual exploitation among street youth is likely the most damaging and devastating. Sexually exploited youth also experience increased levels of violence. Due to police disinterest in filing reports from sexually exploited street youth against ‘bad dates,’ and the myth of protection from pimps, street youth must carry their own weapons, and often exact their own ‘justice.’ (Webber, 1991) As previously (and continuously) abused, sexually exploited, powerless, drug-addicted young people, these youth often face one of three kinds of premature death: ‘accidental’ overdose, deliberate overdose, or a homicidal customer. (Webber, 1991)

Using to Forget

Substance abuse has been found to be as high as 94 percent among Canadian homeless youth. Generally, in comparison with housed youth, homeless and runaway youth exhibit much higher rates of illicit substance use of IV drugs, heroin, methamphet-amines, and crack cocaine. (Sibthorpe, Drinkwater, Gardner, and Bammer, 1995; Greene and Ringwalt, 1997; Greene, Ennett, and Ringwalt, 1997) They also have more social and drug-abuse problems, (Smart and Ogborne, 1994) and use harder drugs more often. For many youth, alcohol and other drug use serves as a coping mechanism for the dysfunctional families they left, and for the harsh realities of life on the streets.

The Ultimate Escape

Street youth who have experienced both physical and sexual abuse (or sexual abuse alone) are at especially high risk for suicide attempts. This “suggests that the destructive families that produce runaways and throwaways may inadvertently kill them.” (Mayers 2001: 158) Abused adolescents may internalize their feelings of anger toward their abusers, which may cause depression and lower self-esteem. Low self-esteem is known to increase one’s risk for depression and decrease one’s ability to cope with stressful life events. The stress of emotional problems, both before leaving home, and while on the street, often leads a young person to use drugs to relieve difficult feelings and temporarily escape, and suicide may represent the ultimate form of escape. (Yoder, Hoyt, and Whitbeck, 1998)

The challenges of living on the streets and coping with negative stigma with few social support networks complicates the lives of GLBT homeless youth. In particular, male GBTU youth report being sexually victimized more often than heterosexual males since their arrival on the street. They show higher levels of depression, withdrawn behaviour, difficulty sleeping, social problems, aggression, internalizing and externalizing behaviour, and many are at higher risk of suicidal behaviour.

CONCLUSION

The lived experiences of homeless youth are devastating. Violence and abuse, perpetrated by family at home, by others on the streets, and sometimes by themselves in order to cope and survive, perpetuates a destructive downward spiral. These youth require and merit the love, support, and care deserved by all children, and legislated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1989) In BC alone, numbers of homeless youth are increasing, due to family violence and abuse. However, the percentage of the BC government budget allocated for children and families has never been lower. In April 2004, the Ministry for Children and Family Development experienced a $63-million budget cut, which affects services such as safe houses, foster care, early-childhood development programs, and services for at-risk, high-risk, and sexually exploited youth. (Vancouver Sun, March 13, 2004) Without serious acknowledgement of the underlying causes of youth homelessness, and greater efforts (through funds and services) required to prevent and address them, we may sadly witness increasing numbers of our youth barely surviving the harsh realities of life at home and on the streets. It takes a community not only to raise a child, but to protect him or her from violence.

Anna McCormick, MA, has been working with youth at high risk and in conflict with the law for the past eight years, in the fields of restorative justice and addictions. She currently works as an Addiction Specialist in Richmond, and as a Sessional Instructor in Criminology at Kwantlen University College.

For a more detailed review of the literature on the impacts of family violence on the health of street youth, please look for the upcoming BCIFV publication, The Impacts of Family Violence on the Health of Street Youth [in publication]. For more information on street youth in BC, please consult various publications of the McCreary Centre Society.

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