By services, I mean for runaways, and by that I mean minors (an 18-year-old is an adult so has full access to charity and government aid, even if s/he technically ran away from home and stopped going to school).
To be fairly brief, Texas criminalizes runaways, and allows no services without contacting parent, guardian, and/or police (especially shelter, though Covenant House did get away with passing out sack lunches, but they, whether required to or not, would report any of our squats, that is abandoned buildings we stayed in, if they learned of them), and those who did help us as Anne helped kids in Angel (including the few shelters for adults that didn't check for the fake age and SSN left on the write in form) could have their services shut down and possible jail time for contributing to the delinquency of minors (and they were usually overburdened with people they could LEGALLY help anyway).
As a kid, I was mistaken in that this was the case all over the United States, only to find out as an adult that state laws about runaways vary widely (though as many of the runaways I mixed with were hardcore and with warrants, it could be they couldn't use services even when available, and criminals that used or exploited us had their own reasons to alienate us from anyone who might help us). Even so, there are typically strict limits. California, being one of the more liberal states (and an already overburdened system), allow up to 2 weeks if those running a shelter deem it appropriate. Nevertheless, I believe California is one of the hardest states to get a permit, burdensome requirements, and the costs are...well, let's just say out of the reach of someone like Anne (though I cut the show some slack here by saying W&H actually set her up over the East Hills Teen Center for tax purposes, creating slush funds, and even more devious and vile reasons, and they considered her easily manipulated as well as expendable, perhaps even as a place to hunt down psychic kids who had run away from home).
There are also other more practical concerns that I'd want to ask Anne about in regards to the East Hills Teen Center, but that's another topic (and I could see many of those concerns being handled with a little luck and creativity).
Also, the Californian food bank I used to volunteer at would automatically call the cops on any minors seeking food, and it was explained to me that they feared being shut down if they didn't, though I'm not sure what the actual state laws and regulations were, and they may have been mistaken. (And the cops were generally hostile to the kids reported on, but it seemed as if the cops didn't like us or anyone we helped.)
Of course government services rejected us out of hand (so no food stamps/EBT, for example), and going to the ER was a virtual guarantee of having the cops called (though many were apathetic enough that they didn't care, and I suspect the few times they didn't show up was simply because they didn't bother to). I think that's true all over the USA. But then there are a lot of limitations on such services anyway (and the ER wants to get paid) that most aren't aware of, but that's another topic. Point is runaways don't have access to such things that adults (at least not those wanted by the law) generally take for granted.
When I was a runaway, I think I'd have been too scared to go to the East Hills Teen Center, fearing it was a trap (and some such places in real life are). By trap I mean they get as much info from you as they can, trap you, and call the authorities. And let me add that CPS (Child Protective Services) and those like them are generally a sick joke, and there are a lot of flaws in the foster care system. Unless they think drugs or some temporary hot button political issue is involved (I suspect race also matters) then CPS isn't likely to be of any help even if severe abuse is undeniably going on, ridiculous stories of them sweeping in because a kid got swatted on the bottom notwithstanding.
And even ignoring the rule of cool and other tropes, the writers of Buffy and Angel strike me as pretty sheltered people, which makes sense of course. And it's not a complaint (I think it's nice that people who have never experienced such things attempt to empathize with those who do), but sometimes it's just too much to ignore, like Wesley in War Zone saying street kids had to have power in their squat (generators and electrical juryrigging do exist among the homeless, but as a general rule using power in an abandoned building drew unwanted attention), or implying that most rapes happen in dark alleys in the bad part of town as I think Thin Dead Line did, but I think I've already gone on long enough.
CORRECTION: "(at least not those wanted by the law)" should be "(at least those not wanted by the law)." Another "fun" experience of being criminalized as runaways was that we were pretty much forced to share squats with wanted felons who also could get aid and typically avoided other charity as they feared getting arrested. (That, and those too mentally ill to do so.)
IDK what's wrong with me right now, I can't seem to type anything right. Wanted felons could NOT get aid and avoided charity. I'm getting offline now until I can start typing what I mean again, sheesh. 😕
