Youth's Experiences of Being Kicked Out, and Why they Come Back

Abstract

This thesis explores homeless and street involved youth’s experiences of being kicked out from various programs and family situations and what draws them back. Using secondary data analysis from the Pathways to Resilience study, I examine the quantitative and qualitative data to determine youth’s risk and resilience processes, their past service use history, and their positive and negative experiences within these services. Homeless youth experience similar levels of risk as other high risk youth, higher individual resilience and prosocial behaviours but lower overall resilience and relationship to caregivers. Youth felt they were kicked out of services primarily due to minor rule infractions or due to their own lack of engagement with the service. Participants discussed critical aspects of engaging with service providers including whether services met their basic needs and whether relationships with staff were respectful, trusting, accepting, and non-judgmental. The implications for service design and delivery are discussed.