Nevada State Laws concerning Homeless Youth

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Addressing the needs of Nevada's Homeless Youth

The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth views homelessness among adolescents as a serious public health concern, due to the lack of services available to them. Homeless and runaway youth typically leave home due to tragic and unlivable circumstances, such as physical and sexual abuse. These youth are aware of the foster-care system and how it functions, but they opt to live on the streets because they often view it as a better alternative.

This population is difficult to find because they have become "invisible" to society. They intentionally blend in and disappear in order to survive. Until the "Right to Shelter" law was passed, that's exactly what they were: stuck in the middle between young children and adults, thus making them invisible in the eyes of the system.

Homeless youth have different needs than homeless adults; therefore, combining the services offered to adults with those offered to youth would be an unsafe and impractical solution. In Nevada, there are presently no long-term residential facilities for youth seeking help on a voluntary basis. To further complicate this matter, the detailed statistics needed in order to develop long-term residential care for this population are virtually non-existent.

NPHY has identified the following priorities in bringing services to unaccompanied minors:

24 hour mobile crisis intervention-specifically designed to provide clinical services Emergency shelter services for females ages 18-21 who fall victim to human trafficking and prostitution Long-term residential programs for homeless teens who are pregnant or parenting

Most of the youth residing on the streets are sexually active and at high risk of becoming parents; many of the girls are already pregnant. Lack of prenatal care, improper nutrition and severe dehydration make these young women prime candidates for delivering premature babies and those with a birth weight of less than 5.5 pounds. This part of the population is also at a high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases that usually go undiagnosed and untreated. Some of these youth have admitted to engaging in "survival sex." And because of the extreme circumstances in which these youth live, many are suicidal. Sadly enough, the ages of these youth vary between 11-18 years, with no gender bias reflected in drug use, survival sex, high school dropout rates or attempted suicide.

According to the Clark County Homeless Youth Count, on any given day nearly 400 unaccompanied minors live on the streets in Clark County [http://www.nphy.org/statistics.html]. Adequate shelter programs, residential programs and bed space should be a priority for policy makers and funders. If Southern Nevada wishes to better manage its homeless adult problems, prevention services to homeless youth are imperative. Homeless youth rarely, if ever, get mentioned in funding or policy decisions. The population exists and is in desperate need of services in order to prevent them from graduating to lifelong homelessness.