Interventions With Street Youth: A Commentary on the Practice-Based Research Literature

While there is a paucity of comprehensive outcome evaluations of street youth interventions, this paper provides the building blocks to understanding what we know about service delivery systems that have been provided to street youth populations. Based on a thorough review of the academic literature, this analysis attempts to organize and highlight ‘‘lessons from the field’ ’ in terms of types of services offered (basic needs, medical, therapy, and skill building) and styles of intervention (individual, family, mentorship, peer-based, and experiential). [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 4:93–108 (2004)] KEY WORDS: street youth, homeless youth, street youth interventions, youth shelters, street youth services, research on street youth. Much of the literature concerning street youth has focused on reasons and causes for street embarking. This body of literature has been primarily interested in uncovering personal traits and attributes of street-entrenched youth, as compared to samples of nonstreet youth (see, e.g., Edelbrock, 1980; Jenkins, 1971; Steirlin, 1973). More recently, a smaller body of analyses has highlighted the characteristics of street culture, most often signaling the deviant and delinquent nature of street living (see, e.g.,