Youth Homelessness in Australia: Representation and Research

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of youth homelessness in Australia, addressing the complex issue of young people experiencing housing instability. The essay explores the various causes of homelessness, including family issues, economic instability, and the impact of social media. It delves into the effects of homelessness on youth, such as increased risk of criminal behavior and social isolation. Furthermore, the essay examines the historical context of homelessness policies in Australia and the government's response, including programs like the Supported Accommodation and Assistance Program (SAAP) and The Road Home initiative. It references research highlighting the prevalence of youth homelessness and the factors contributing to it. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective parenting, family counseling, and community support in addressing this critical social issue, advocating for a multi-faceted approach to support vulnerable youth and prevent them from entering the juvenile justice system.

RUNNING HEAD: Homelessness In Youths of Australia
Representation And Research
Homelessness In Youths of Australia

Homelessness In Youths of Australia
This essay will discuss the issue that is very common but most challenging and invites other
issues deliberately, sometimes this ends the future of youth giving them a criminal image in
society and they suffer in the entire life because they face issues in the living and commit the
actions that harm others and build their criminal and imperfect image in the social world
(MacKenzie 2018). Youth is the well-known and very well experienced term that is faced by
every on in their life various scholars and doctors consult this time as the most challenging
and most important phase of one’s life because this time a person is not a child nor an adult.
Various scholars, writers and doctors have written many articles that represent the changes,
issues, effects and results of the youth age on one’s life. This essay will be based on the
representation of the youth facing the homelessness issues in their life with the detailed
discussion of causes, effects and solutions suggested by various scholars to deal in the below
given paragraphs (Barker 2012).
Youth and the challenges of the youth age are widely discussed from time to time, as the
change in the time issues, behaviours and challenges are also changed and authors and
scholars have included these changes, reasons behind those changes and the result of the
behaviour of the youth on the society (Watson & Cuervo 2017). Homelessness is the result of
three inter-related issues faced by the adolescence majorly, family issues and problems,
housing shakiness and economic instability and challenges. No youth willingly or
immediately left the shelter but a continuous sexual or physical abusive behaviour,
unsuccessful relationships and neglecting behaviour of the family members led the impatient
behaviour in the youth and open the only way to run-away for them (Kuskoff & Mallett
2016).
Youth homelessness is a major social issue in any developed or developing country and
Australia is dealing this issue taking the numerous serious steps to prevent the increment in
the youth run-away and homeless issues. Majorly there are many reasons behind the decision
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Homelessness In Youths of Australia
if leaving home but a very serious issue that youth government Australia, is accepting to
reduce are the involvement of the youths and young age children in the juvenile justice or
child development centre. Youth those face susceptible behaviour, a range of negative and
negative experience with manipulation and discrimination on various grounds and
continuously in their routine life, this result in the runaway and homelessness in increased
manner resulting the increase in the challenges in form of the crime and social issues.
Runaway or homeless youth and young person easily got divert to the criminal habits and the
anti-social groups use their emotions as the weapon to lead them towards the dark future.
Many social reformers took part in the development of youth change and development
activities (Mallett et al. 2014). Historical record of the criminal records committed by the
young age people shows that the pressure, anxiety and family issues are the main causes
behind the wrongful acts done by a youth that is homeless. Changes in the time and the
development of the technology have connected the entire world very closely, these social
media means of the connection had facilitated the youth to distress themselves from
loneliness but initially they have result the endless gap between the friends and family. A
youth living in the virtual life face difficulties in the management of the real life issues and
usually avoid the contacts with the difficulties and problems. These led the failure in the
challenging situations and make the youth deprived, insecure and run away from the hurdles
and problematic situations (Roche & Barker 2017).
Policy history of the identification and development of the homelessness in the basically
stated in the 1960 with the concept that homeless person is the person individually left the
home but affect only a few people in the society but this definition of the homeless youth
changed with the scenario changed in the upcoming decades. In the upcoming years
society identified the runaway and homeless youth as the challenging and socially impacting
issue, that rapidly was increasing and youth fatally moving towards the option of leaving the
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Homelessness In Youths of Australia
shelter instead if finding the solutions and answer to the problems. During 1980s,
organisation named grassroots community identified the concept of the street kids in the
media to highlight the rapidly increasing issue of the homeless kids in the society of Australia
(Sargeant & Bond 2015). Responding to the presented issue Australian government held
inquiry committee in 1982 and recorded the data in a report named social welfare’s report on
the youth homelessness in Australia. This report excluded the reasons, issues and impacts of
the homelessness in the Australia, effects of this report was not very effective in the
community and society but the Australian government became concern about the challenges
and issues of the homelessness and runaway in the society (Embleton et al. 2016). The major
step taken by the government was to construct the strict laws and the organisations that
prevent the activities impact the youth to leave the shelter and ruin their future. Some of the
big steps taken by the Australian government that impacted the society in the positive manner
were- in 1985s, the supported Accommodation and Assistance Program (SAAP), in 2003 the
Burdekin Report and after the change in the federal government in 2007 new selected
government announced the homelessness youth as the prior issue and challenges to the
government hence they introduced The Road Home in 2008. These are the only a few
changes discussed in the essay but the society has accepted many renovated ideas to deal with
the social issues in respect the homeless youth (Australia’s Homeless Youth, I., 2013).
According the (Kuskoff & Mallett 2016) in their research paper and presentation presented
and submitted at the Life course centre, Australia had the detailed history and the effects of
homelessness in Australia. Rate of the youths diverting to the homelessness or runaway is
seems higher than any other age group. Hence the youth and young age people are more
eager to leave the home in any adverse situation. This age group youth was between the 12-
24 age and more surprisingly approximately these youth were 25% of the total homelessness
people of the country in a year. In the research it was found that in the increasing risk of the
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Homelessness In Youths of Australia
homelessness in the youth is failed to control by the parents and they are seeking for help
from the parent-kid counselling offices to counsel issues with their child and the parenting
styles. To deal the issues at the secure level b Australian government in the present scenario
are running the programs and policies awaking the community and the society about the
issues and the prevention programs to deal with it (Curry et al. 2017). Non-profit organisation
following the outreach model, crisis model, the Supported accommodation Model, the
Intensive support Model, the Foyer model and the Co-ordination Models to support the parent
and the kids deal with the issues of the homelessness and runaway. Young parents of
Australia are facing the parental issues and the parent in the age of 20-30 are facing this issue
very seriously because the changing scenario of their busy life is impacting their parenting
styles and lack of effective parenting is results the causes of insecurity in the kids and they
are limiting themselves in their virtual world where they live in peace but this virtual
happiness results the fear, anger and anxiety of losing happiness and success in real life this
led the impatience and homelessness in youth and young age children in the country (Mallett
et al. 2014).
On the basis of the above discussion regarding the social issue of youth runaway and
homelessness that impacting the society Australian government is using effective and useful
steps (Bennett 2016). To deal with them in the changing scenario parent and family
counselling organisation can use the more effective and realistic approaches to handle the
mind-set of the parent with the child. Man is a social animal and cannot survive without
social and family relations, but the concept of virtual social media life has interpreted the real
life relations to avoid the this impact of the gadgets and the virtual life parents need to spend
time in the better growth and development of their child (Anderson & Jiang 2018).
This essay had evaluated various scholar articles, representations, reports and research papers
to describe the situation of youth facing in their routine or daily life and in their parenting
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Homelessness In Youths of Australia
techniques, that resulting the creation of the aggressive, anxious and insecure behaviour of
the youth. This essay identify from the research papers that main causes of the young age
homelessness is their mental and physical weakness, their broken family, issues they face in
their neighbourhood and society and the issues they deal in the schools. The continuous effect
of the negative implication in the parenting results the negative impact on the society.
Australian young parents are facing the issues on large level that is related to the parenting
skills they apply to pamper their children. Findings in this essay have included the history of
the development of the community services in the country from the year 1960 in policy
history dealing the social development of various organisations, communities and legal
entities dealing to reduce the impact of the personal or family problem on the youth and
prevent them to enter in the system of juvenile justice and youth reforming home.
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Homelessness In Youths of Australia
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