Summary
A survey was conducted of research materials published since 1990 dealing with background, experiences, behaviours and programming needs of street-involved youth in Canada. The goals of the literature review were: 1) to identify key characteristics of street-involved youth; 2) to explore how these characteristics are transected by factors of familial background and the conditions and experiences of street life in such a way as to create a constellation of risks for young people who spend significant amounts of time on the street; 3) to examine the range of research methodologies used in these studies of street youth; 4) to briefly examine programmatic responses to their service needs; and 5) to identify gaps in research that, if appropriately addressed, could contribute significantly to a better understanding of this phenomenon and to the development of more effective programmatic responses.