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Great Depression Act Essay

Decent Essays

This act was created in 1974 there are many events that could have impacted the need for such a policy. One event that impacted the need for the RHYA is the Great Depression. The Great Depression led to about 400,000 young boys being homeless. Another important event is the Vietnam War, though it was coming to an end around the time that the act was passed, it lasted for many years and effected the family structure of American households. The draft caused by the war made a lot of families turn into one income families, which could have made teens need to leave home before they were old enough to support themselves in order to leave more resources for the rest of the family.
Also in the 1960’s it was still pretty unacceptable to some people for biracial couples to exist, being a part of such relationship could have not been accepted by parents and forced children out of homes. Overall, this act was created to abolish the high number of homeless and runaway youth in America. (Fernandes-Alcantara, 2013)
Up until the passing of the act in 1974, those who were considered runaway or homeless youth only had their needs met through donations from churches and through local child welfare agencies. In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps opened camps and shelters for older low income youth. Also the YWCA (Young Womens Christian Association) provided a large amount of resources and help in the 1960’s, however this was funded by churches and donations and received very little federal

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