Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is a Youth Shelter?Services ProvidedHow They HelpFinding a Youth ShelterFAQs

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Table of Contents

What Is a Youth Shelter?

Services Provided

How They Help

Finding a Youth Shelter

FAQs

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A teen who makes the decision to run away from home needs a safe place to stay. They also benefit from addressing the issues that led to their decision. A runaway shelter for youth is designed to help these teens, also providinghelp for parents and guardiansso the teen can transition back home.

Every year, between 1.6 million and 2.8 million youth run away.Understanding what a shelter for youth does, the services it provides, and how it can help is beneficial if you are a youth who is thinking about how to run away. It’s also helpful if you are an adult who wants to find a safe place for a youth who has made the decision to run away from home.

A youth who makes the decision to run away is not a “bad kid” but, for whatever their unique reasons,feels overwhelmedand stressed at home.Teens who run away come from all types of backgrounds, from low-income to high-income, and all geographical areas, both rural and urban.

What Is a Runaway Youth Shelter?

Runaway shelters for youth provide temporary housing, food, and specialized counseling for teens who run away from home. They offer a safe place for these youth to live as they work to face and confront their individual issues and concerns.

Youth shelters also help families plan out the next steps necessary for dealing with the circumstances they face.This is important because teens who are trying to figure out how to run away (or who do run away) often do so because of family dynamics.

Family dynamics that can contribute to a teen seeking help from a shelter for youth include:

Other common reasons behind a youth’s decision to run away from home are beingabusedor neglected,mental health issues, issues with peers (such asbeing bulliedor fighting with friends), and economic issues like housing insecurity and poverty.

What Is a Group Home?

Runaway shelters for youth provide a variety of services while working toward these goals, such as:

Youth shelters also generally offer runaway teens access to different types of therapy. These therapies can help relieve mental health symptoms (such asdepression) while also having positive effects on unhealthy coping behaviors (like substance use).

Types of therapy that may be provided at a shelter for youth include:

Youth shelters provide a safe place for teens to live while dealing with their reasons for running away, and the consequences of their decision to do so.

Therapy for Teens

How Runaway Shelters Can Help

If the teen has run to a faraway location, the shelter for youth may even offer them a free bus ticket so they can return home.

How to Locate a Shelter for Youth in Your Area

Youth can contact Safe Place to help find the location of local youth shelters. ItsTXT 4 HELP programallows youth to text the word SAFE and their current location (address, city, and state) to 44357 to be connected to a Safe Place site.

Frequently Asked QuestionsTypically, shelters for youth have a cut-off age of 17. A youth who decides to leave home after turning 18 may have the option of going to a local transitional shelter or homeless shelter. These other shelters are designed to handle issues adults face when without a home, making them better equipped to address the young adult’s needs.While safety data for youth shelters is lacking, research has found that the risk of being physically or sexually victimized is lower for youth staying in shelters than when sleeping on the street.Text the word “safe” and your location to 4HELP (44357) and you will receive a message with the nearest Safe Place youth shelter. You can also call the National Runaway Safeline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) and they can refer you to the closest youth shelter. Alternatively, you can search online for “youth shelter near me” to find shelters not listed with these other organizations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Typically, shelters for youth have a cut-off age of 17. A youth who decides to leave home after turning 18 may have the option of going to a local transitional shelter or homeless shelter. These other shelters are designed to handle issues adults face when without a home, making them better equipped to address the young adult’s needs.

While safety data for youth shelters is lacking, research has found that the risk of being physically or sexually victimized is lower for youth staying in shelters than when sleeping on the street.

Text the word “safe” and your location to 4HELP (44357) and you will receive a message with the nearest Safe Place youth shelter. You can also call the National Runaway Safeline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) and they can refer you to the closest youth shelter. Alternatively, you can search online for “youth shelter near me” to find shelters not listed with these other organizations.

8 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Family and Youth Services Bureau.Basic center program fact sheet.U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.The invisible faces of runaway and homeless youth.National Runaway Safeline.Portrait of a runaway.National Runaway Safeline.2020 snapshot.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.HUD releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report part 1.Noh D.Psychological interventions for runaway and homeless youth.J Nursing Scholarship. 2018;50(5):465-472. doi:10.1111/jnu.12402National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.Increasing staff skills.Tyler KA, Schmitz RM.Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization.Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;95:327-333. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.018

8 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Family and Youth Services Bureau.Basic center program fact sheet.U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.The invisible faces of runaway and homeless youth.National Runaway Safeline.Portrait of a runaway.National Runaway Safeline.2020 snapshot.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.HUD releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report part 1.Noh D.Psychological interventions for runaway and homeless youth.J Nursing Scholarship. 2018;50(5):465-472. doi:10.1111/jnu.12402National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.Increasing staff skills.Tyler KA, Schmitz RM.Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization.Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;95:327-333. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.018

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Family and Youth Services Bureau.Basic center program fact sheet.U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.The invisible faces of runaway and homeless youth.National Runaway Safeline.Portrait of a runaway.National Runaway Safeline.2020 snapshot.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.HUD releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report part 1.Noh D.Psychological interventions for runaway and homeless youth.J Nursing Scholarship. 2018;50(5):465-472. doi:10.1111/jnu.12402National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.Increasing staff skills.Tyler KA, Schmitz RM.Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization.Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;95:327-333. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.018

Family and Youth Services Bureau.Basic center program fact sheet.

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.The invisible faces of runaway and homeless youth.

National Runaway Safeline.Portrait of a runaway.

National Runaway Safeline.2020 snapshot.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.HUD releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report part 1.

Noh D.Psychological interventions for runaway and homeless youth.J Nursing Scholarship. 2018;50(5):465-472. doi:10.1111/jnu.12402

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.Increasing staff skills.

Tyler KA, Schmitz RM.Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization.Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;95:327-333. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.018

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