Social Issues in the “Leaving the Streets: Stories of Canadian Youth”

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Homelessness can be discussed as one of the major social issues in Canada today. The media and scholars pay very much attention to the topic, while accentuating its importance for the Canadian society. The stories of millions of homeless people round the world attract the audience who intends to examine the aspects of their life and possible perspectives for the future because these people have suffered from tsunamis, earthquakes, civil wars, floods, and fire. However, the street youth is the unique category discussed in the context of homelessness. In their book Leaving the Streets: Stories of Canadian Youth, Jeff Karabanow, Alexa Carson, and Philip Clement discuss the attempts of the young homeless Canadians to exit the dangerous street life, and they focus on the personal stories of male and female Canadians between 16 and 24 (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 8).

To focus on the issue in detail, it is necessary to review the authors’ thesis, their key arguments, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the book, and to conclude about its significance. Although the book discusses only one category of the street population in Canada, Karabanow, Alexa Carson, and Philip Clement provide the effective detailed examination of the street youth’s attempts to exit the street life because they focus on the personal stories and experiences, analyze different variants of street disengagement, and concentrate on the role of the social exclusion and capital for the process while pointing at the crucial factors to change the situation for better.

The authors of the book are inclined to support the idea that to exit the street life successfully, the street youth should become oriented to the principles of the street disengagement and to breaking all the bonds connecting the person with the street community, and it is the most challenging aspect of the process (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 6-12).

The main strength of the book is that the authors present the examples and strategies related to the effective street disengagement basing on the real-life personal stories and experiences. The next strength of the book is that the authors pay much attention to the discussion of the problem of social exclusion and motivation influencing the young people’s attempts to exit the street life. From this point, to summarize the book arguments, it is important to note that the authors focus on the role of such concepts as social exclusion and social capital in the young people’s street disengagement, the role of the service providers in supporting the youth, and the role of the external and internal factors to influence the young people’s choice (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 10-16). However, the book is rather weak to present the issue in the cultural context instead of social context because of focusing primarily on social concepts.

The book is different from the other works on the topic because the authors focus on the problem of the street youth from the perspectives for the street disengagement when many authors are inclined to focus on the legal issues of the problem or on the nature of homelessness as the social phenomenon (Mervyn, 2006, p. 12; Warriner & Peach, 2007, p. 118-120).

Furthermore, this book can work as the guide that helps social workers use different approaches while handling different young people exiting the streets. Thus, the service providers can use the book to come up with different tactics for handling street youths. The book is also the great resource for students studying the youth related programs. It presents the greatest diversity in terms of the street youth’s life which is not unique for Canada and many countries all over the world and accentuates the similar experiences observed in different countries. It is, therefore, a good book when it comes to understanding the diversity of the street young people who suffer from being homeless.

While evaluating the book, it is necessary to state that the book provides the detailed and clear examination of the topic because the authors focus on many details and evidences to support their arguments. Thus, the heterogeneity of the youths in the streets comes to the fore in the book, and the authors use a lot of data to support their unexpected claims related to the idea of social exclusion. It is a good approach to deal with the issue of homeless in relation to street youths in Canada because the authors present the proper discussion of the emphasis on exclusion achieved with the help of such terms as “squeegee kids”, “runaways”, “group-home” among many others (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 10).

The book explains the meaning of different labels in order to emphasize diversity and help the readers understand the various groups and situations typical for the life in the streets. However, the fact that these labels are not static and that the shifts are possible shows that street life is transformative.

The authors effectively manipulate this idea while stating that service providers use this diversity to come up with strategies on how to help the homeless youths in the streets leave the street. The book, therefore, helps in guiding service providers with vital information about the homeless street youth and their motives. The authors also provide credible evidences to support the idea about the diversity of the youths’ choices while focusing on the street disengagement.

It is necessary to realize that if the youth comes from different backgrounds, those people can experience the street life differently. Thus, the process of exit is different and based on many factors, as it is stated in personal stories. The authors state that the exiting street life means “a renewed or rebuilt sense of citizenship — a shift away from exclusion towards inclusion”, and individual challenges, reasons, and barriers influence the process significantly (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 16).

The other striking feature in this book is the fact that it talks about the transient nature which many homeless street youths demonstrate. Some of the reasons why they move from one place to another are the searches of services that can support them. The bottom-line is the fact that these homeless street persons are highly mobile. The authors state that this movement and constant changes of location normally ensure that most of the youths do not disengage from the streets during their first attempt. They are people who like experimenting with things, and they are “unattached to mainstream culture and as such, outside the realm of public citizenship” (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 15).

These arguments of the authors are effective to see the problem from the other perspective. This book brings a very valid point in the transient nature of the homeless street youths.

This book provides different types of evidences because it is based on the analysis of interviews with the street youth and representatives of the social services. The youth living in the streets and the service providers tell their stories from the book’s pages. Much attention is paid to the ways which are used by the young people to exit the street life and to the successes of their initiatives. The necessary data and examples are received from different persons who work closely with the homeless youth in Canada, and the authors use the qualitative data and statistics to reflect the real situation in the country and to support their arguments. The presence of many personal materials and facts creates the impression that the book is well balanced and supported (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 67-83).

The fact that the book gives the evidences to discuss the all points of the stories means that the reader is not limited to the discussion of the street disengagement, but he also can reflect on the general culture of the youth in Canada.

The book asks the readers and the service providers to understand the idea of exiting the street as the complex phenomenon because such factors as the youth’s ideals, motivation, barriers, and fears are associated with the process. The discussion of these factors is a very important for those service providers involved in the promotion of youth programs. The authors pay the readers’ attention to the fact that the homeless street young people are young girls and boys who are often unhealthy in relation to their emotions, spirituality, and even physical features. Thus, these factors also influence significantly their opportunities to exit the street successfully.

These results of exploitations, the lack of care, sufferings and abuse should be treated appropriately to contribute to the youth’s adaptation. The authors provide many evidences to support these claims while referring to the examples of exploitations and abuses (Karabanow, Carson, & Clement, 2011, p. 67-83). Karabanow, Carson, and Clement provide the sound arguments to state that the street disengagement is the complex social problem which should be discussed from the large perspective.

Jeff Karabanow, Alexa Carson, and Philip Clement’s Leaving the Streets: Stories of Canadian Youth makes the readers to look at the problem of the homelessness from the other point while referring to the issue of the street youth. This book is extremely focused on the idea of the successful street engagement, and it is necessary for those representatives of the social services who work to support the homeless street youths. However, this narrow focus can be discussed as one of the book’s limitations. Nevertheless, the authors discuss the various factors to influence the street exit issue in detail, and the book addresses the aspects of the marginalized groups’ life properly.

The book can serve as a guide to form the associated policies and give details on how to handle the issue of homeless in relation to the street youth in the contemporary Canadian society. The authors have done the significant work, and their research and the qualitative data add to the book’s credibility. Furthermore, the book provides the links for the future research in the field because the topic of barriers and challenges preventing the youth from exiting the street is very large and diverse.

References

Karabanow, J., Carson, A., & Clement, P. (2011). Leaving the streets: Stories of Canadian youth. Canada: Fernwood Publishing. Web.

Mervyn, J. (2006). Metamorphosis an in depth look at the lives of former street kids. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. Web.

Warriner, W. E., & Peach, I. (2007). Canadian social policy renewal, 1994-2000. Halifax, N.S.: Fernwood Publishing. Web.

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