Runaway Youth Act

Runaway Youth Act - Asserts that the responsibility for improving the conditions and medical and counseling services in the Nation and for aiding parents in finding children who have left home without permission is primarily one of State and local concern, but that the Federal Government has a responsibility and unique opportunity to help alleviate the problems associated with runaway youth, which are national in scope and interstate in character.

Title I: Authorizes the Administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to make grants to State and local law enforcement agencies to purchase necessary equipment and fund programs which will strengthen the availability and effectiveness of services for parents of runaway youth to report descriptions and possible destinations of their children to law enforcement officials in their localities and in othe areas of the country.

Prescribes the necessary contents of applications for such grant. Provides that the Federal share of grants will be 80 percent of the total costs of the program or item for which the application is made.

Authorizes $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1974, 1975, and 1976, to carry out the provisions of this title.

Title II: Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to gather information, develop a comprehensive program, and report to Congress no later than June 30, 1974, on the problems and needs of transient youth in the United States and on the causes of and possible methods of dealing with the runaway youth phenomenon, including information and recommendations regarding the entire transient youth population in the United States.

Requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to report to Congress not later than June 30, 1974, on the desirability of current procedures and of a new agency to deal with the problems and needs of transient youth in the United States. Provides that there is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $1,000,000 to carry out this title.

Title III: Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to make grants and to provide technical assistance to States, localities, and nonprofit private agencies, beginning July 1, 1973, and ending June 30, 1976.

Provides that the grants may be given to States, localities, and nonprofit private agencies on the basis of such considerations as the number of runaway youth in the community, the existing availability of private or local sources of funding for such facilities, the existing availability of facilities and services for transient youth, and the success of particular applicants in attracting and meeting the needs of runaway youth.

Requires that to be eligible for assistance under this title a grant must propose to establish, strengthen, or fund an existing or proposed "Runaway House," a locally controlled facility with medical and counseling services to provide temporary shelter for juveniles who have left home without permission of their parents.

Sets forth requirements for each proposal: (1) each child under eighteen years of age who uses the facility and its services, or the staff of the facility for the child, must contact the parents or legal guardians of such child within thirty-six hours of arrival at the facility; (2) each facility must have attached to it, on a consulting, referral, or continuing basis, personnel trained in psychiatry and medicine; (3) the staff of each facility must contact such authorities as are appropriate within forty-eight hours of the arrival of a child under eighteen years of age to check whether the child has committed offenses, has escaped from a juvenile correctional institution, or is in other ways being sought by law enforcement officials; and (4) the staff of the facility shall have due regard for the rights of each child's parents and shall not undertake medical or substantial psychiatric treatment except in strict accord with the law of the jurisdiction of the parent's residence.

Requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to annually report to Congress on the status and accomplishments of the Runaway House program. Limits the Federal share for each facility to 50 percent of that facility's budget. Authorizes to each of fiscal years 1974, 1975, and 1976 not more than $2,000,000 to carry out this title.