Runaway Services and Their Shortcomings: Addressing the Need for Greater Awareness of Girl Runaways in Minnesota

Presenter Information

Danica Das, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Katherine Day, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Allison Matthews, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 253/4/5/

Start Date

4-4-2011 9:00 AM

End Date

4-4-2011 10:30 AM

Student's Major

English, Gender and Women's Studies, Mass Media

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Dawn Rae Davis

Mentor's Department

Gender and Women's Studies

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

The Nation Network of Runaway and Youth Services estimated that there are approximately 1 million to

1.3 million runaway and homeless youths each year in the United States.‖ (MacKay, Hughs, 2004) There are many services and organizations that strive to combat this issue, yet thousands of girls under the age of eighteen go under-served or are placed back into an environment of cyclical violence due to their age and parental rights issues. Further research highlights that access to alternative education, transportation, documentation/record retrieval services, and life skills education are services in high demand among runaway girls under the age of eighteen. When social services fail to offer programs that deal with these issues, homeless and runaways girls are subjected to further disenfranchisement and a lower quality of life. Using content analysis, we examined the available social services in south central Minnesota, highlighted areas in need of improvement, and considered ways to implement more complete programs for runaway girls. The benefit of our research included suggesting to south central Minnesota services the application of long-term programs that use a feminist lens to provide more comprehensive help for runaway girls.