Suchergebnisse

Women's homelessness: a historical perspective / Eoin O'Sullivan -- Cultural images and definitions of homeless women: implications for policy and practice at the European level / Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand and Deborah Quilgars -- Women's homelessness and welfare states / Joanne Bretherton, Lars Benjaminsen and Nicholas Pleace -- Exclusion by definition: the under-representation of women in European homelessness statistics / Nicholas Pleace -- Women's homelessness and domestic violence: (in)visible interactions / Paula Mayrock, Joanne Bretherton, and Isabel Baptista -- The health of homeless women / Judith Wolf, Isobel Anderson, Linda van den Dries, and Maša Filipovič Hrast -- Mothers who experience homelessness / Linda van den Dries, Paula Mayock, Susanne Gerull, Tessa van Loenen, Bente van Hulst, and Judith Wolf -- Long-term and recurrent homelessness among women / Nicholas Pleace, Joanne Bretherton, and Paula Mayock -- Migrant women and homelessness / Magdalena Mostowska and Sarah Sheridan -- Conclusions / Paula Mayock and Joanne Bretherton

AbstractThe role of family environments, where conflict—ranging from disagreements between young people and their parent(s) or carers to home‐based circumstances where violence and/or abuse is present—is well documented in research that has examined the causes and correlates of youth homelessness. However, far less attention has focused on how young people themselves frame and understand the significance of family ruptures. This paper examines the family 'turning point' experiences embedded in the life stories of homeless youth. The study, which was biographical and longitudinal, aimed to generate an in‐depth understanding of the nature of homelessness, how it emerged and its impacts on the lives of young people. Conducted in Ireland, 40 youth aged 16–24 years were recruited at baseline, with all interviews commencing with an invitation to young people to tell their 'life story'. Analysis of participants' life story narratives revealed three major family turning point experiences associated withparental absence and separation,bereavementandacute interruptions to family life. These turning points, the effects of which had a temporal character, reveal the rippling impact of family ruptures on the lives of young people who embarked on a path of leaving home and becoming homeless. The implications of the findings for enhancing engagement with the families of young people who experience homelessness are discussed.