The Center conducts research, analyzes laws and policies, prepares and disseminates publications, provides training and technical assistance, and engages in advocacy. The Center's work addresses a broad range of issues influencing the financing, delivery, and utilization of comprehensive health services for adolescents.
Visit the Center for Adolescent Health and the Law website.
Provided by the Children's Defense Fund, this resource kit addresses such questions as "How common are children's mental health problems?" and "Federal Requirements: What is required for mental health screens?".
Download the Children's Mental Health Resource Kit.
This fact sheet from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network guides shelter staff in offering support to children and families who are experiencing homelessness and who have experienced trauma.
Download Complex Trauma: Facts for Shelter Staff Working with Homeless Children and Families
Homeless and at-risk youth are likely to be eligible for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA simplifies and expands access to affordable health care for most Americans, including low-income and homeless youth, and allows states to expand eligibility for Medicaid. Health coverage under the ACA can help connect young people with supports to address their health care needs. This factsheet from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes eligibility, what services are covered, and how to sign up.
Download Health Coverage for Homeless and At-Risk Youth.
This annual U.S. Census Bureau report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States based on statistics on health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in recent Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) and the American Community Survey (ACS).
Download the 2016 report | 2015 report | 2014 report | 2013 report | 2012 report | 2011 report | 2010 report | 2009 report | 2008 report | 2007 report| 2006 report | 2005 report | 2004 report | 2003 report | 2002 report | 2001 report
This toolkit from the the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides tools and resources to help state and local stakeholders take practical steps to strengthen the link between health and education. The toolkit can help communities explore high-impact opportunities to increase access to health insurance to promote better academic outcomes, create school environments with the physical and mental health supports to help students succeed academically and lead healthy lives, and strengthen coordination and collaboration between health and education systems at the local and state levels.
Visit the Healthy Students, Promising Futures website.
This report, published by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, discusses key issues faced by homeless young adults and articulates effective short- and long-term strategies for addressing them. The report is organized around four main topics: health care, housing, education/employment, and social support. For each topic, the report offers brief descriptions of service barriers and short- and long-term strategies for overcoming them.
Download Homeless Young Adults Ages 18-24: Examining Service Delivery Adaptations.
This comprehensive resource from the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness explores a range of key topics related to addressing the mental health and substance use challenges of homeless youth. It aims to support service providers in the planning process, thinking through recommendations, implementation considerations, and staff models and partnerships that are necessary to deliver and sustain interventions for youth experiencing homelessness.
Download Mental Health and Addiction Interventions for Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Practical Strategies for Front-line Providers.
This resource from SchoolHouse Connection highlights states with laws allowing minors, including unaccompanied minors experiencing homelessness, to consent to routine health care. It does not address state laws that empower minors to consent to substance abuse treatment, mental health care, treatment for contagious diseases or reproductive health.
Visit the Minor Consent to Routine Medical Care webpage.
This report from the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH) explores differences in risk behaviors and health outcomes between homeless high school students and their housed classmates. Homeless high school students are struggling not only to find a place to sleep, but to meet their mental, emotional, and physical health needs as they pursue educational goals necessary to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
View More Than a Place to Sleep: Understanding the Health and Well-Being of Homeless High School Students.
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council (HCH)is a membership organization comprised of organizational members and individuals who are organized as the HCH Clinicians' Network. HCH advocates, conducts research, provides training, publishes informational videos and books, and collaborates with other organizations to support the provision of quality healthcare to people experiencing homelessness.
Visit the National Health Care for the Homeless Council website.
Learn more about and access resources from NIMH, whose mission is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.
Visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
This report from Southeast Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network (MHTTC) describes organizational and policy strategies to improve recruitment and retention of school mental health providers. Additionally, it identifies resources developed by reputable organizations to facilitate implementation of these strategies. The report aims to provide useful guidance on developing and maintaining the school mental health workforce for organizations (e.g. schools, school districts, and community mental health agencies) and policy makers involved in school mental health efforts.
Download Recruitment and Retention of School Mental Health Providers: Strategies and Key Resources.
This webpage from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) explores housing options and strategies for people with a mental health condition.
Visit the Securing Stable Housing webpage.
SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) is a program that helps states and communities increase access to Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI) benefits for people, including children and youth, who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder. The SOAR Technical Assistance Center (TA) has been funded by SAMHSA since 2009. The SOAR TA Center coordinates the implementation of state and local-level SOAR Programs at no cost to the communities it serves.
Visit the SAMHSA SOAR webpage and the SOAR TA Center's Children and Youth webpage.
This Alaska state law provides that a minor living apart from his/her parents or legal guardian and managing his/her own financial affairs may consent for his/her own medical and dental services.
Read the full text of Sec. 25.20.025.
This form from the California Courts may be used to authorize the enrollment of a minor in school and authorize school-related medical care. Other states may wish to use this form as a guide for developing their own caregiver affidavit.
Download the California Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit.
This affidavit from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education authorizes an adult with whom a minor resides to consent to certain types of medical treatment, obtain certain documents, and make educational decisions on behalf of the minor.
Download the Massachusetts Caregiver Authorization Affidavit.
This form from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education enables a caregiver over the age of 18 to authorize the enrollment and school-related medical care of a minor unaccompanied homeless youth.
Download the Missouri Caregiver Authorization Form.