Runaways in a runaway city

Abstract

The author gives a brief overview of the situation in the City of the Gold Coast, where considerable media attention has been focused in recent years on the problem of homeless children. He examines misleading media/community conceptions of the ‘young homeless’ problem, and asks what societal functions these may serve. Two conventionalised images of the homeless child are isolated: the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ stereotype, and the ‘Wooden Baby’ stereotype. The author then offers an alternative conception of the problem, relating home-lessness both to family processes and to wider social value-shifts and value-confusions. He examines the youthwork/refuge model, to date the prevailing strategy for addressing youth homelessness, and indicates a number of ways in which this model unintentionally perpetuates the very processes it aims to correct. Finally, the author suggests alternative strategies which welfare policymakers and institutions might explore to promote emotional health both for clients and for the support systems in which they are embedded.