The Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program sponsored by the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families ( U.S. ![]() The lack of a reliable social support network during and after child welfare placement was further reflected in the landmark Midwest Study of youth who aged out of foster care, which found that 31% to 46% of the study youth were homeless at least once by 26 years old ( Courtney et al., 2011 Dworsky et al., 2013). More than double the proportion of youth who “aged out” of child welfare move two or more times within a 12-month period compared to other youth with no child welfare history, and the risk for homelessness is even greater for youth who did not reunify with family members after placement ( Fowler et al., 2017). Child welfare involvement is also a risk factor for future homelessness. Risk of homelessness is higher for some subpopulations, including young parents Black and Hispanic youth lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) youth and youth who did not complete high school ( Morton et al., 2018). Although unsheltered homelessness declined among children and young adults between 20 ( HUD, 2020), recent estimates suggest one in 10 young adults ages 18 to 25 and one in 30 adolescents ages 13 to 17 experienced some form of homelessness in a single year ( Morton et al., 2017). In 2019, 35,038 unaccompanied youth were homeless on a single night, with 89% of those youth aged 18 to 24 years old ( HUD, 2020). Strategies to end youth homelessness are needed in the United States. We discuss lessons learned from this approach to inform future research with youth and young adults and provide methodological insights that can help answer questions about the benefits of involving youth as co-researchers. A comparison of longitudinal study response rates before the peer interviewer approach was implemented and a year after implementation showed that 6-month rates increased from 11% to 55% and 12-month response rates increased from 14% to 51%. We examine the reasons for incorporating peer interviewers with a “hard to reach” youth population and how the peer interviewer approach was developed and supported through the collaborative partnership. The partnership was grounded in positive youth development and developmental evaluation frameworks, and incorporated a participatory research approach to involve peer interviewers as co-researchers in a formative evaluation of the service model. We describe our community-university partnership focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation a comprehensive service model that served young adults (ages 18–24) who were experiencing homelessness and had a child welfare history. Moreover, engagement strategies need to be authentic and relevant to the lived experience of youth who have been involved with multiple service systems. ![]() ![]() Innovative programs and research are needed to address homelessness among youth who have been involved in the child welfare system.
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