Return to search

The shelter experience : a case study of street kid residents at Toronto's Covenant House

This case study of Covenant House, an emergency shelter for street kids in downtown Toronto, focuses on the experiences that draw kids into youth shelters and that drive them out. The analysis stresses the importance to street kids of feeling "cared for". Street kids were drawn to Covenant House because they felt cared for there by its open intake policy, appealing facilities (clean surroundings and good food), and staff who listened to and were interested in their problems. But residents were rather swiftly turned off by its rigidly enforced, elaborate and "uncaring' rule structure, and either walked out or got kicked out. Given the limited alternatives in Toronto's "shelter world", however, Covenant House has become the preferred choice for street kids who find themselves in a cycle of entering, leaving and returning.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.26282
Date January 1994
CreatorsKarabanow, Jeffrey M.
ContributorsRains, Prue (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Sociology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001447512, proquestno: MM99907, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

Page generated in 0.0022 seconds