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Strengths-Based Assessment for LGBT Homeless Youth

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Abstract

This paper describes the process of conducting a strengths-based assessment for LGBT homeless youth. It examines the range of services these young people need — including healthcare, housing, nutrition, counseling, and education — and explains the social worker's role in connecting them to those resources. Drawing on the Department of Health and Human Services and research by Hopper, Bassuk, and Oliver (2010), the paper explores how childhood trauma and domestic violence contribute to long-term homelessness and why fragmented service systems remain a barrier. It then outlines how strengths-based assessments work in practice, emphasizing the importance of open-ended questioning to identify individual competencies, skills, and potential as the foundation for rebuilding a stable life.

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What makes this paper effective

Grounds the assessment process in a clear theoretical rationale — human rights principles and individual dignity — before moving to practical application.
Connects research on childhood trauma to real-world homelessness outcomes, giving the assessment framework empirical backing.
Moves logically from problem identification (service gaps, systemic barriers) to solution (strengths-based questioning), giving the paper a coherent problem-to-solution arc.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper demonstrates effective use of paraphrase citation to integrate multiple sources without over-quoting. Each paraphrase is tagged with author and date, maintaining academic attribution while allowing the student's own analytical voice to carry the argument forward — a standard expectation in social work writing.

Structure breakdown

The paper opens by defining its objective, then establishes context through the services LGBT homeless youth require and the social worker's role. A middle section addresses the root causes of homelessness (trauma, violence) and the systemic barriers that impede assistance. The paper then pivots to the strengths-based model itself — its two main functions, the role of open-ended questioning, and its evidence base — before closing with a brief summary that restates the core argument. Approximately six thematic sections guide the reader from problem to framework to conclusion.

Introduction and Purpose

The objective of this paper is to describe the process used for completing a strengths-based assessment for LGBT homeless youth. In order to conduct such an assessment, the social worker or advocate must first examine what services and resources are available to assist LGBT homeless youth — information that will serve to empower them to overcome their present situation.

Services Needed by LGBT Homeless Youth

Services that homeless LGBT youth need include medical and healthcare services, access to housing, nutrition, counseling, and access to educational institutions, including higher education at colleges and universities. The social worker is in a unique position to assist these youth in gaining access to these resources. Social workers operate from a foundation of human rights principles — principles formulated upon the basis of the worth and dignity of each individual and the fundamental freedoms that enable every person to develop their full potential.

Trauma, Violence, and the Path to Homelessness

The work of Hopper, Bassuk, and Oliver (2010) reports that homelessness renders individuals without very basic needs and exposes them to environments that are fraught with unforeseeable danger. Often, LGBT youth who are homeless have suffered trauma during their development that may include neglect or abuse, and they may not have formed the natural attachments that other individuals experience in their lives. All of this serves to pave the way for the homelessness they are currently experiencing.

The violence an individual suffers as a child often carries over into adult life in the form of domestic violence, which frequently results in that person becoming homeless. Once homeless, LGBT youth are further victimized by those who exploit their vulnerability. Trauma creates a lived experience of constant fear for these individuals, and the stress resulting from that trauma makes navigating daily life extremely difficult. Consequently, many individuals experience homelessness over a long continuum. Research shows that individuals with repeated experiences of homelessness were most often those who were abused as children (Hopper, Bassuk, and Oliver, 2010).

3 Locked Sections · 345 words remaining

Systemic Barriers and Fragmented Services · 90 words

"Agency collaboration gaps and service fragmentation"

The Strengths-Based Assessment Process · 175 words

"Assessment tools, open-ended questions, and competency discovery"

Summary and Conclusion · 80 words

"Strengths-based model affirmed for homeless LGBT youth"

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Key Concepts in This Paper

Strengths-Based Assessment LGBT Homeless Youth Trauma History Social Work Service Fragmentation Open-Ended Questioning Empowerment Childhood Abuse Human Rights Principles Individual Competencies