Ryan Hall breaks into a wide smile when he recognizes the young man sitting on a retaining wall taking a long drag off a cigarette outside the Downtown library. “Hey man, how are you?” asks Hall, a homeless outreach manager for Lighthouse Youth Services. “You doing OK? Where you staying?”

"It's very difficult. We have families coming in out of the goodness of their heart to be foster families, so we are putting in place now more trauma-based, trauma-focused training for families to be able to help these children cope," Lighthouse Foster Care and Adoption Licensing Supervisor Robyn Bastin said.

The reason he thinks he's made it through, “It’s faith. There’s a reason. I feel like I was supposed to go to Paint Creek. I honestly feel like I wouldn’t be the young man I am today. I feel like I wouldn’t think how I think. I wouldn’t move how I move. I feel like I really needed that time to evaluate myself as a person and find out who I am.”

Safe and Supported's Host Home Program serves LGBTQ youth who have no other place to go.

here’s a reason. I feel like I was supposed to go to Paint Creek. I honestly feel like I wouldn’t be the young man I am today. I feel like I wouldn’t think how I think. I wouldn’t move how I move. I feel like I really needed that time to evaluate myself as a person and find out who I am.”