FAMILY INTERVENTION

TO ADDRESS &

PREVENT

HOMELESSNESS

AMONG LGBTQ YOUTH

National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, non-partisan, organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness by improving policy, building capacity, and educating opinion leaders.

The Center for American Progress is dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action, We develop new policy ideas, critique the policy that stems from conservative values, and challenges the media to cover the issues that truly matter and shape the national debate.

The Discussion Topics • André Wade (National Alliance to End Homelessness)

will provide a general overview of family reunification as a strategy to prevent youth homelessness;

• Jeff Krehely (Center for American Progress) will speak to the scope and source of the problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness,;

• Caitlin Ryan (Family Acceptance Project) will discuss the goals and aims of the Family Acceptance Project and core information on research and findings to date, and

• Theresa Nolan (Green Chimneys) and Jenni Gunnell (SCO) will discuss the grant from the NYC to facilitate the development of innovative approaches to strengthen the families of LGBTQ homeless and at-risk youth.

Family reunification as an intervention to

prevent youth homelessness

Runaway and homeless youth programs

across the nation actively engage runaway

youth and their families with family

reunification services as an intervention to

prevent homelessness.

Family reunification as a strategy to

prevent youth homelessness

Working with a youth and their family on the

subject of a youth’s sexual orientation or

gender identity can be a very sensitive and

delicate matter when the family is not

accepting.

Family reunification as a strategy to

prevent youth homelessness

Develop culturally competent strategies and

approaches to working with youth and their

families on issues of family reunification and

family acceptance as an intervention to

prevent future runaway episodes or

homelessness for LGBTQ youth.

americanprogress.org americanprogress.org

On the Streets: The Federal Response to

Gay and Transgender Homeless Youth

June 2010

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010

/06/on_the_streets.html

jkrehely@americanprogress.org

americanprogress.org

americanprogress.org

Who are Gay and Transgender Homeless Youth?

• 320,000-400,000 gay and transgender youth experience homelessness each year

• Count of Homeless Youth in NYC (Freeman & Hamilton, 2008)

• Gay Homeless Youth • Average age: 14 and 4 months

• 44% Black and 26% Hispanic

• Transgender Homeless Youth: • Average age: 13 and 5 months

• 62% Black and 20% Hispanic

americanprogress.org

americanprogress.org

A Cascade of Failing Safety Nets

• Families

• Schools

• Child Welfare Systems

• Juvenile Justice Systems

• Health Care Providers

americanprogress.org

When Families Reject Youth

• Highly rejected young people are

• More than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide

• Nearly 6 times as likely to report high levels of depression

• More than 3 times as likely to use illegal drugs,

• More than 3 times as likely to be at high risk for HIV and

sexually transmitted infections

FTIP: Family Therapy

Intervention Pilot

SCO Family of Services &

Green Chimneys-NYC

Background

NYC Mayor’s Commission on LGBTQ RHY: prioritizing prevention and intervention, with a focus on family work.

NYC’s Dept. of Youth & Community Development sought private funding to support a family intervention initiative.

2 awards: SCO and Green Chimneys.

SCO and GC decided to collaborate for maximum effect – split city geographically and pool resources for training and designing approach.

Goals and target population

Decrease: Suicidal thoughts/attempts,

depression, use of illegal drugs,

unprotected sexual activity

Increase: family acceptance

Return to or remain in family home

Population: LGBTQ youth who are

homeless or at-risk of homelessness and

their families. Referred through the

DYCD system

Model summary

What informs us: MST, FAP, FFT, Stone Fish and Harvey, family therapy, motivational interviewing

Approx. 11-14 sessions with a beginning, middle, and end:

Building rapport, gathering family story, separate sessions at beginning with youth and parent(s), building motivation for change

Creating positive change, building greater acceptance, education re: sexual orientation and gender identity, creating refuge, exploring accepting and rejecting behaviors, holding difficult dialogues

Generalizing and maintaining change, extended families and social systems, celebration

Follow up one month following last session

Training:

Overview of FT approaches, motivational interviewing, and engagement skills

Special needs of LGBT youth and their families, Coming Out process for families, FAP research findings including accepting and rejecting behaviors, addressing counter-transference, family of origin issues, de-escalating conflict, overview of FTIP model

Cultural competency, PFLAG, faith-based groups, family genogram

Model summary (pg 1)

What informs us: MST, FAP, FFT, Stone Fish and Harvey, family

therapy, motivational interviewing

Model developed by clinical team from each agency, collectively

with decades of experience with queer youth and family therapy

Approx. 11-14 sessions with a beginning, middle, and end:

Building rapport, gathering family story, separate sessions at

beginning with youth and parent(s), building motivation for

change

Creating positive change, building greater acceptance,

education re: sexual orientation and gender identity, creating

refuge, exploring accepting and rejecting behaviors, holding

difficult dialogues

Generalizing and maintaining change, extended families and

social systems, celebration

Follow up one month following last session

Model summary (pg 2)

Training:

Overview of FT approaches, motivational

interviewing, and engagement skills

Special needs of LGBT youth and their families,

Coming Out process for families, FAP research

findings including accepting and rejecting

behaviors, addressing counter-transference, family

of origin issues, de-escalating conflict, overview of

FTIP model

Cultural competency, PFLAG, faith-based groups,

family genogram

Measurement

Not a research project; simply measuring

project outcomes based on grant parameters

Administered 3 times: pre, post, and 1 month

follow up

Beck Depression Inventory

Suicidality

Depression

Youth Risk Survey: compilation:

FAP: based on accepting and rejecting behaviors

Youth Risk Behavior Survey from DOHMH

Several HIV risk assessment tools

Progress thus far….

In doing outreach:

finding resistance around family work

needing to focus on buy-in

facing a paradigm shift

Looking at a community forum to discuss

importance of family work

Went back to DYCD re: referrals within the

system

Starting to get a few referrals and clinical

work is beginning

Family Intervention to Address & Prevent

Homelessness among LGBTQ Youth

National Alliance to End Homelessness – LGBTQ Homeless Youth

http://endyouthhomelessness.org/

Center for American Progress - Report on Family Matters

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/familes_matter.html

Family Acceptance Project

http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/

Green Chimneys

www.greenchimneys.org/nyc

SCO

www.sco.org