Objective: For this dissertation, I investigated the characteristics of homeless, unaccompanied youth to determine which subgroups of students pursued and obtained financial stipends as an incentive for satisfactory educational outcomes- grades C and above. Method: The study was based on data obtained from a community-based, non-profit, drop-in center that serves homeless, unaccompanied youth enrolled in school. From each participant (n=965), demographic variables (including the student's age, grade, gender, race, and ethnicity) and life experience variables (including the student's reason for homelessness, current living situation, teen parenting status, and program enrollment status- either a new or returning student to the program) were obtained. These variables were used to determine the relationship between the student's characteristics and the outcome measurements: percent of the potential monthly stipends earned and the length of enrollment in the program. Results: The results demonstrated significant mean differences within the student's age, grade, and program enrollment status for both the percent of stipends earned and the length of program enrollment. A student's teenage parenting status also indicated a significant difference for the percent of stipend earned. Three student characteristics were significant predictors for the percent of stipends earned, and five characteristics were significant predictors for the length of program enrollment. Conclusions: Specific subgroups within the unaccompanied, homeless population pursue and obtain financial stipend incentives for educational outcomes at different rates. These results add to the literature needed to better align educational services and programs to the various subgroups within the homeless youth population.

Although research has described mentoring programs to have positive effects with youth, there are few studies that describe how mentors build relationships with homeless youth. In this study, I sought to explore how mentors of a community-based organization, Starting Right Now, built relationships with homeless youth. Starting Right Now is a multi-faceted, community-based intervention developed in 2009 in Tampa, FL. They provide services to homeless adolescents who are no longer living in the custody of a parent or guardian. The program provides residential, educational, recreational, and professional development services, as well as mental and physical health care. Additionally each youth in the program receives a trained mentor. A qualitative approach allowed mentors to share what strategies they used to connect with their mentee and overcome challenges within the relationship. Five female adults were recruited from Starting Right Now to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Results showed that for some mentor-mentee pairs, the relationship developed easily if they found similar commonalities (e.g. outgoing personalities). Further, mentors discussed the strategies and activities that created a closer relationship and how they overcame challenges with the relationship. Finally mentors discussed the advice they would give to someone else looking to mentor a homeless youth. Overall mentors in this study reported that commitment and patience are major components to being a successful mentor to a homeless youth.

The aim of this study was to examine how youths who have a residence permit under the law SFS 2018:756 are handled within the social services in different municipalities in order to contribute with the knowledge about how welfare organizations categorize and organize themselves around this group. The study is based on qualitative interviews with seven social workers divided in a total of six municipalities. Who either possessed knowledge of or meet our target group in their work. We have examined how they handle the needs of housing and financial aid for our target group. In our analysis of the interviews, we have applied a theoretical perspective by using the regulatory, the normative and the culture-cognitive elements of the new institutional theory and legitimacy as a concept as well as Tilly’s (2000) theory of durable inequality where key concepts are categorization and regulatory. Our understanding is that the categorization of our target group within the social services relates to stereotypical beliefs in which the youths do not receive support based on their individual needs, but are handled on the bases of their group affiliation. In the six municipalities we examined, two have been shown to stand out because they handle the youths in the same way as other unaccompanied young people. The results of our study show that there are different risks for the target group, primarily in the municipalities where they receive little support. The risks that arise are further on connected to what the conditions stipulates in the law SFS 2018:756 and partly the consequence of being unaccompanied without social support.

Although interventions that take an individualized, holistic approach to service delivery have been recommended for homeless youth, few such interventions have been described in the literature. This study sought to examine a unique, multi-faceted, community-based intervention developed in 2009 in Tampa, FL to provide services to homeless adolescents who are no longer living in the custody of a parent or guardian (i.e. unaccompanied youth). The intervention, titled Starting Right, Now (SRN), has served over 100 youth to date. The program provides residential, educational, recreational, and professional development services, as well as mental and physical health care. Each youth also receives a trained mentor who is in frequent contact with the youth. Other individualized services are provided as needed. Although SRN has been in existence for six years, the program has only been evaluated using measures such as changes in GPA, absentee rates, etc. In the current study, individual interviews with nine program participants who had been in SRN for at least one year were analyzed to explore how the youth themselves perceived that their lives had been impacted. Thematic analysis of interviews provided an opportunity to examine common themes among participants. Results showed that despite encountering some challenges, participants perceived that they had been lifted to higher educational and personal levels through obtainment of resources; adult and peer support systems; renewed trust in adults; increased hope; improved mental health; and a heightened sense of community. Practical implications for practice and research are discussed.

Unaccompanied youth are migrant children who travel by themselves to the United States, mostly from Central America and Mexico. Since 2014, more than 200,000 unaccompanied youth have entered the United States, with approximately 28,000 residing in Los Angeles, California (U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP], CBP 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021a, 2021b). Hundreds of these young migrants have enrolled in public schools (Pierce, 2016). Schools seek adequate and effective ways to support these students’ complex needs and aspirations. Within the body of research about this sub-group of immigrants there is a significant absence of the voices of unaccompanied youth themselves, which results in limited knowledge and uninformed school policy responses. This study employed Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as a methodology to foreground youth agency in capturing counter-narratives that accurately depict the school experiences of unaccompanied youth who find themselves at the intersection of race, gender, immigration status, migration, and class. The questions guiding this study were: How do unaccompanied youth, in the role of youth co-researchers describe, experience, and make meaning of educación at a justice-focused high school in Los Angeles? and (b) How can the epistemology of unaccompanied youth inform practices and policies, to ensure a socially-just education, against the backdrop of an anti-immigrant climate? YPAR is built on the idea that young people have the capacity to conduct research, generate new knowledge, and create transformational social change. This research study built on the epistemology of unaccompanied youth to inform and generate affirming and emancipatory educational practices with youth as agents of knowledge creation. This study provides the field with first-hand information that can be shared in the educational community. Abstract (Spanish) Los jóvenes no acompañados son niños migrantes que viajan solos a los Estados Unidos, principalmente desde Centroamérica y México. Desde 2014, más de 200,000 jóvenes no acompañados han ingresado a los Estados Unidos, y aproximadamente 28,000 residen en Los Ángeles, California (U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP], CBP 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021a, 2021b). Cientos de estos jóvenes migrantes se han matriculado en escuelas públicas (Pierce, 2016). Las escuelas buscan formas adecuadas y efectivas de apoyar las complejas necesidades y aspiraciones de estos estudiantes. Dentro del cuerpo de investigación sobre este sub-grupo de inmigrantes hay una ausencia significativa de las voces de los propios jóvenes no acompañados, lo que da como resultado un conocimiento limitado y respuestas políticas escolares desinformadas. Este estudio empleó la Teoría Crítica de la Raza (CRT) como marco teórico y la Investigación de Acción Participativa Juvenil (YPAR) como una metodología para poner en primer plano la agencia juvenil en la captura de contra-narrativas que representan con precisión las experiencias escolares de los jóvenes no acompañados que se encuentran en la intersección de la raza, género, estatus migratorio, migración y clase. Las preguntas que guiaron este estudio fueron: ¿Cómo los jóvenes no acompañados, en el papel de co-investigadores jóvenes, describen, experimentan y dan sentido a la educación en una escuela secundaria centrada en la justicia social en Los Ángeles? y (b) ¿Cómo puede la epistemología de los jóvenes no acompañados informar prácticas y políticas para garantizar una educación socialmente justa, en el contexto de un clima anti-inmigrante? YPAR se basa en la idea de que los jóvenes tienen la capacidad de realizar investigaciones, generar nuevos conocimientos y generar un cambio social transformador. Esta investigación se basó en la epistemología de los jóvenes no acompañados para informar y generar prácticas educativas afirmativas y emancipadoras con los jóvenes como agentes de creación de conocimiento. Este estudio proporciona al campo información de primera mano que se puede compartir en la comunidad educativa.

The aim of our study was to investigate HVB-home staff's perceptions of the temporary asylum law's impact on unaccompanied minors’ motivation for integration into Swedish society. On 24 November 2015, the government presented a temporary law to reduce the number of asylum seekers. The temporary law was intended to apply for three years and meant that Sweden went from having generous asylum legislation to following the EU's line for a minimum level for receiving asylum seekers. All asylum-seeking groups, such as refugees and people in need of protection, would receive temporary residence permits, except that there were exceptions for quota refugees who could obtain permanent residence permits. In the study, we used a qualitative method and conducted semi-structured interviews with five staff who had previously worked with unaccompanied children. Results from both interviews and previous research show that there are several factors that affect the mood of unaccompanied children and their integration into Swedish society. The study showed that previous psychological trauma, long waiting times for information about residence permits, loneliness and lack of meaningful activity had a negative impact on unaccompanied children's mood and motivation for integration.