.
Unfortunately, there is not much literature on the phenomenon of the homelessness among minors in the U.S., although a small number of studies have examined the incidence of runaway behavior and the characteristics of the young people involved in it. A possible factor in the reluctance to label anyone 17 years old and younger as homeless is that, from a legal perspective, no youth is homeless. Those who cannot live with a natural parent are supposed to be the responsibility of the child welfare system until they come of age. .
A variety of terms have been used to refer to the population of young people in unstable living situations, including "homeless," "runaways," "throwaways," "push-outs," "system kids," "street kids," and "outcasts." Often terms represent-overlapping categories and at times are used interchangeably. Defining homelessness and runaway behavior and distinguishing between the two is important. A runaway youth can be defined as "a person under the age of 18 years who is absent from his or her legal residence without the consent of their parents, legal guardian, or custodian." A homeless youth can be defined as on "who is in the need of services and is without a place of shelter where supervision and care are unavailable" (Caton p. 21-22). These definitions imply that a runaway child has somewhere to go where he or she would be cared for, and that a homeless child does not have this luxury. Runaways do not always have a place to return to, due to the circumstances explored later. .
Estimates among the extent of youth homelessness among youths are sketchy. The most reliable estimates, from Caton's point of view, of the size of the problem of runaway behavior comes from a nationwide study carried out by the Opinion Research Corporation in 1976, consisting of a telephone survey of a probability sample of 62,895 households, of which 13,942 included a youth between the ages of 10 and 17.
