pe of illegal activity, according to most official figures (Tuohy, 1993) but a lot of people who work with juveniles will tell you that it is closer to a 90 percent chance. Runaway and homeless youths also frequently suffer from depression, a condition often cited by homeless youths as a primary presenting problem. The literature consistently confirms that the self-concept of runaway adolescents is low, and suicide is often cited as a problem that runaways face. Because of the failures of the home lives for some of these children what they think they can accomplish is minimal; they have very low self-esteem (Roberts, 1981).Most studies states that the number of runaway children that have been either sexually or physically abused is approximately 50 percent. However, the studies also warn that the number of children who report sexual or physical abuse is expected to be underreported due to the fear of intervention from Children and Family Protective Services. Unfortunately some children would rather face a dysfunctional and unsafe home, than being taken away from what they know. (Tuohy, 1993)There is also another category of homeless youths called throwaways. They comprise about 10% of the runaway population. These children did not choose to leave home, but were forced out of the house by their parents. The children left with no place to go, took to the streets. The reasons for a child being thrown out of their house could be anything from a stepparents not wanting to deal with the delinquency of their step-child, to a parents trying to teach their child a lesson. Throwaways experience more violence and conflict with their parents than do runaways and are more likely to be gone from home for longer periods. Most of these children, once they leave home, do not return. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that 127,000 children were locked out of their homes in 1988 for at least one night (Steidel 2000) In order to combat th...
