	Shelter Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-SH 11: Developmentally Appropriate Programs for Homeless and Runaway Children and Youth

Shelters that serve homeless and runaway children and youth provide a program that meets their needs for social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

NA The agency does not provide shelter for homeless and runaway children and youth.

PA-SH 11.01

The shelter serves children and youth in a supportive setting that:

enables them to feel physically and psychologically safe and secure; and
provides a developmentally appropriate structure, with clear and consistent rules and behavioral expectations that are developed with their participation.

PA-SH 11.02

Children and youth are offered an organized daily program of age appropriate and developmentally appropriate social, recreational, and educational activities, in a youth friendly environment.

PA-SH 11.03

Youth have opportunities to participate in group activities to meet, support, and share experiences with peers, based on their assessed readiness to participate in these activities.

Interpretation: Opportunities to participate in culturally appropriate social, cultural, recreational, and religious activities should be designed to expand the range of life experiences, and be sensitive to the needs of indigenous groups or youth with special needs.

PA-SH 11.04

Youth are helped to develop social support networks and build or maintain healthy, meaningful relationships with caring individuals.

Interpretation: “Caring individuals” may include mentors, community members, friends, siblings, and other family members. Although many youth in independent living programs are disconnected from long-term family relationships, research indicates that youth in out-of-home care often maintain relationships with their families and return to them upon exit from care. Independent living programs should be aware of any involvement that youths may have with their family members and should (1) foster supportive relationships when it is possible to do so, or (2) assist youth in coping with or avoiding unhealthy relationships.

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	PURPOSE: Shelter services meet the basic needs of individuals and families who are homeless or in transition, set them on the path toward stable family or independent living, and provide a point-of-entry to the continuum of community care.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	OUT-OF-HOME CARE Services for persons living in environments outside of their usual households. Foster Care Services are considered to serve persons in out-of-home care.