---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 11279"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "11279"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/11279"
units:
  - "Subtitle I — Comprehensive Acts"
  - "Chapter 111 — Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention"
  - "Subchapter III — Runaway and Homeless Youth"
  - "Part F — General Provisions"
---

# §11279. Definitions


In this subchapter:

- (1) **Drug abuse education and prevention services—** The term “drug abuse education and prevention services”—
  - (A) means [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) to [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) to prevent or reduce the illicit use of drugs by such [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52); and
  - (B) may include—
    - (i) individual, family, group, and peer counseling;
    - (ii) drop-in [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51);
    - (iii) assistance to [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) in [rural areas](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-32) (including the development of community support groups);
    - (iv) information and training relating to the illicit use of drugs by [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), to individuals involved in providing [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) to such [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52); and
    - (v) activities to improve the availability of local drug abuse prevention [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) to [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52).
- (2) **Home-based services—** The term “home-based services”—
  - (A) means [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) provided to [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) and their families for the purpose of—
    - (i) preventing such [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) from running away, or otherwise becoming separated, from their families; and
    - (ii) assisting [runaway](#4) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) to return to their families; and
  - (B) includes [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) that are provided in the residences of families (to the extent practicable), including—
    - (i) intensive individual and family counseling; and
    - (ii) training relating to life skills and parenting.
- (3) **Homeless youth—** The term “homeless”, used with respect to a [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), means an individual—
  - (A) who is—
    - (i) less than 21 years of age, or, in the case of a [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) seeking shelter in a center under part A, less than 18 years of age, or is less than a higher maximum age if the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) where the center is located has an applicable [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) or local law (including a regulation) that permits such higher maximum age in compliance with licensure requirements for child-and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52)-serving[^1] facilities; and
    - (ii) for the purposes of part B, not less than 16 years of age and either—
      - (I) less than 22 years of age; or
      - (II) not less than 22 years of age, as of the expiration of the maximum period of stay permitted under [section 11222(a)(2) of this title](/usc/34/11222.md?p=a-2) if such individual commences such stay before reaching 22 years of age;
  - (B) for whom it is not possible to live in a safe environment with a relative; and
  - (C) who has no other safe alternative living arrangement.
- (4) **Runaway youth—** The term “runaway”, used with respect to a [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), means an individual who is less than 18 years of age and who absents himself or herself from home or a place of legal residence without the permission of a parent or legal guardian.
- (5) **Street-based services—** The term “street-based services”—
  - (A) means [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) provided to [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), and [street youth](#6), in areas where they congregate, designed to assist such [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) in making healthy personal choices regarding where they live and how they behave; and
  - (B) may include—
    - (i) identification of and outreach to [runaway](#4) and [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), and [street youth](#6);
    - (ii) crisis intervention and counseling;
    - (iii) information and referral for housing;
    - (iv) information and referral for transitional living and health care [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51);
    - (v) advocacy, education, and prevention [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) related to—
      - (I) alcohol and drug abuse;
      - (II) sexual exploitation;
      - (III) sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); and
      - (IV) physical and [sexual assault](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-35).
- (6) **Street youth—** The term “street youth” means an individual who—
  - (A) is—
    - (i) a [runaway](#4) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52); or
    - (ii) indefinitely or intermittently a [homeless](#3) [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52); and
  - (B) spends a significant amount of time on the street or in other areas that increase the risk to such [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) for sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, prostitution, or drug abuse.
- (7) **Transitional living youth project—** The term “transitional living youth project” means a project that provides shelter and [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) designed to promote a transition to self-sufficient living and to prevent long-term dependency on social [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51).
- (8) **Youth at risk of separation from the family—** The term “youth at risk of separation from the family” means an individual—
  - (A) who is less than 18 years of age; and
  - (B)
    - (i) who has a history of running away from the family of such individual;
    - (ii) whose parent, guardian, or custodian is not willing to provide for the basic needs of such individual; or
    - (iii) who is at risk of entering the child welfare system or juvenile justice system as a result of the lack of [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) available to the family to meet such needs.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 93–415, title III, § 387, as added Pub. L. 106–71, § 3(p), Oct. 12, 1999, 113 Stat. 1041; amended Pub. L. 108–96, title I, § 116, Oct. 10, 2003, 117 Stat. 1170; Pub. L. 110–378, § 10, Oct. 8, 2008, 122 Stat. 4072.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 5732a of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

### Amendments

2008—Par. (3). Pub. L. 110–378, § 10(a)(1), substituted “The term ‘homeless’, used with respect to a youth, means” for “The term ‘homeless youth’ means” in introductory provisions.

Par. (3)(A)(i). Pub. L. 110–378, § 10(a)(2)(A), substituted “less than” for “not more than” in two places and inserted “, or is less than a higher maximum age if the State where the center is located has an applicable State or local law (including a regulation) that permits such higher maximum age in compliance with licensure requirements for child-and youth-serving facilities” after “18 years of age”.

Par. (3)(A)(ii). Pub. L. 110–378, § 10(a)(2)(B), substituted “age and either—” for “age;” and added subcls. (I) and (II).

Pars. (4) to (8). Pub. L. 110–378, § 10(b), added par. (4) and redesignated former pars. (4) to (7) as (5) to (8), respectively.

2003—Subsec. (3)(A)(i). Pub. L. 108–96 inserted “, or, in the case of a youth seeking shelter in a center under part A, not more than 18 years of age” after “of age”.