HOMELESS RUNAWAYS ARE at particularly high risk for a wide variety of serious health problems. They face exposure to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), malnutrition, pregnancy, suicide, and homicide. Because these adolescents live in dangerous environments, and because their lifestyles often include activities such as alcohol and drug abuse and unprotected survival sex or prostitution, they are more likely to be forced to cope with dangerous illnesses and other problematic health concerns than nonhomeless teens. Runaways also must deal with mental health problems such as depression and behavioral disorders.

Trish Crawford, a reporter who interviewed runaways on the streets of Toronto, Canada, describes Melissa, a homeless girl with serious health problems. Crawford writes, "[Melissa] doesn't brush [her teeth] after meals, her skin is breaking out and she is fighting a bladder infection that isn't getting any better because she...