Joint working - The roots of youth homelessness

Josh* became homeless at the age of 17. He grew up in a household where both parents suffered from drug addiction. At the age of 14 he referred himself to a counsellor because he didn't feel emotionally supported by his parents.

Before becoming homeless, Josh often spent weekends and periods during the school holidays with his aunt and uncle because it gave him a greater sense of stability.

"Not being able to communicate properly with my parents was probably a factor in me becoming homeless," he explains. "But it was also drugs - I didn't get any support from my parents, they couldn't be bothered. I needed help getting clothes for school, washing clothes and shopping."

Family breakdown

A report published by Centrepoint this week called Family Life: The Significance of Family to Homeless Young People, says that family breakdown is a "root cause of homelessness" and that conflicts often arise because of a family's failure to communicate.

Following interviews with 60 homeless people aged 16 to 25 and 117 questionnaires completed by homeless young people, the report highlights a number of ways in which family disputes can be prevented or resolved.

It calls for the personal, social and health education curriculum to include lessons in communication skills and dealing with disagreements so that young people have the skills they need to deal with disputes inside and outside the home.

Family mediation services are also described as a crucial tool in helping to get young people and their families talking.

Charlotte Pickles, senior policy adviser at the Centre for Social Justice, backs Centrepoint's call for more support for struggling families. "Family breakdown has a devastating impact on children and young people," she says. "We have repeatedly called for greater provision of effective early intervention programmes focused on equipping parents with the knowledge and tools to ensure the healthy development of their child." Pickles also echoes the call for professionals working with children to be better trained to recognise the signs of children experiencing family dysfunction.

One recommendation outlined by the report's authors is the need for mediation services to be better advertised to families and young people through services they already use, such as GPs and youth centres.

Feedback from young people highlights the need to create a better understanding of the support that mediation services can provide in order to dispel the scepticism towards mediation felt by many.

The report adds that all organisations working with young people should build closer links with mediation providers to make it easier for young people and families to access these services. But, it adds, merely signposting services may not be enough. When young people are experiencing periods of crisis the report suggests a referral system could help to increase the numbers accessing mediation services.

Early intervention

Seyi Obakin, chief executive at Centrepoint, says that often parents - as well as children - have complex needs and challenging behaviours that create conflict in the family home, but many families do not get the support they need.

"The best remedy is early intervention, shifting the focus from the young person as the problem to supporting the family as the solution," he says.

The report places the onus on frontline professionals to intervene in family conflicts before they reach crisis point. It calls for better training for professionals such as teachers and doctors to help them get involved with families much earlier in the course of their disputes.

But Josh, now 19, says he has mixed feelings about whether family mediation services would have worked for him. "It would have helped in that there would have been outside people knowing that things were going wrong in the house. But it wouldn't have helped in the sense that I wouldn't have been open with them because I would have been too angry or embarrassed," he says.

He also has doubts about how teachers would be able to help. "It's not teachers' main priority and I never said anything at school as I was too ashamed - I didn't open up because I was too embarrassed. The system failed because they didn't recognise I was struggling."

* Name has been changed

CENTREPOINT'S FAMILY LIFE REPORT: How services can help families in crisis

- Services can improve the communication skills of children and young people so that they can handle disputes more effectively

- Early family intervention is crucial if services are to reunite families successfully with their parents. Mediation services are often only offered when the dispute reaches crisis point, but this is often the worst time to offer assistance as families are not in a state to engage with them

- Parents of homeless young people may need help themselves and should be given flexible, intensive support

- Family relationships are not always best served by keeping a young person in the family home

- Young people who cannot reunite with their families should be supported to build alternative networks

- More assistance should be targeted at young parents, particularly young fathers