Supporting Youth Living in Family Homeless Shelters

Abstract

Supporting youth living in family homeless shelters is important as these families face multiple barriers in their lives. Youth have many strengths that they build upon which can be useful as they bounce from home to home. Youth living in homeless shelters with their family may lack resources to guide them as they navigate life. This paper specifically focuses on the Catholic Charities Emergency Family Homeless Shelter in the city of Des Moines, IA. This is a thirty-day shelter that offers case management for parents but has a lack of programming for youth. This writer reviewed two different family programs to recommend to the Family Shelter. Staff of the Catholic Charities Emergency Family Shelter and current guests were interviewed by the writer to investigate if the two family programs would work for this particular shelter. An adapted program for youth and their families is recommended for the shelter.