The Rising (Street) Generation: The Vancouver Runaway Revolution and 1970s' Child Saving.

This article examines the emergence and development of runaways as a publicly recognized social problem in 1960s–70s Vancouver and its impact on youth work and social reform. Drawing on media and municipal records, it highlights how runaway and transient youth cultures prompted a new child rescue movement focused on teenagers, exemplified by initiatives like the Cool Aid runaway house and the Gastown Team detached youth workers agency. Despite early advocacy for youth rights and innovative outreach, by the late 1970s these efforts largely reverted to coercive control, policing, and repatriation, mirroring earlier child-saving models that emphasized youth dependency over expanded freedoms. The article situates this history within broader social tensions around class, race, and generational conflict, concluding that despite reform attempts, many marginalized street-involved youth remained without adequate support or safety nets in Vancouver.