Risks Encountered by Homeless Youth - Dissertation Example

The dissertation shall be divided into five chapters.  The first chapter shall define the research problem, investigate its background, outline the scope of the study while elucidating upon its limitations.  The second chapter, the literature review, shall overview a select, but the representative number of published studies and researches on the problems associated with youth homelessness in Great Britain and the factors led to homelessness among care leavers.   The third chapter, or `Methodology,’ shall articulate the dissertation strategy for responding to the research questions and hypothesis, shall outline its theoretical approach and data collection methodology and explain the ethics governing secondary data collection, analysis, and usage.

  The fourth chapter, or `Analysis,’ shall expound upon the findings arrived at through both the secondary and primary data and present a set of recommendations.  The fifth chapter shall conclude the study. Children in care are required to leave the system upon turning 18, at which time they are legally defined as adults and assumed to be able to care for themselves.   Ironically, society expects that these youth, the most vulnerable of youth, who have suffered abuse or neglect and have never formed permanent mature relationships with adults, to be self-sufficient.

While other children have parents that they can live with and are willing to pay for their college tuition, youth in care have no one. Renting an apartment with no parent to co-sign a lease, finding money for a security deposit, and getting to work or school without money for transportation, and being able to feed themselves in the absence of a job,  are several of the obstacles care leavers confront.  As a result, many care leavers confront negative outcomes, primarily homelessness (Barth, 1996).