District Policies on Homelessness and Their Impact on Students and Their Families

• In Event: 52.067 - Homelessness Should Be No Child's Heritage: Addressing the Impact of Homelessness in Education

Abstract

The McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, signed by President Ronald Reagan (since reauthorized several times) represented the first large-scale federal response to homelessness. Although the McKinney-Vento Act has a broad range of programs that directly and indirectly affect homeless children, our interest here is in the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program which both defines homelessness and mandates that every public school district have a homeless liaison officer to ensure that the educational rights of homeless children are safeguarded.

The definition of homeless children provided in the Act has become the prevailing definition used by most agencies and entities and is the definition used for the purpose of this paper. It includes: children and youths who are sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; who are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; who are living in emergency or transitional shelters; who are awaiting foster care placement; who have a primary night-time residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; or who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings (See the McKinney- Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001, section 725).

Unfortunately, approximately 1.6 million children in the United States experience homelessness in a given year, a situation that, through no fault of their own, places children “at risk for educational under performance and failure at school” (Hall, 2007; Love, 2009). The circumstances that impel each family into homelessness are unique, but each fall before the start of school, homeless families across the country must negotiate what are often very thorny legal requirements as they register their children for school. The misconceptions and misunderstandings that confront families during this activity must be understood if we are “to make room for democratized knowledge and knowledge production in which the experiences of all people are shaped by principles and practices of justice.” Moreover, the challenges do not end with successful school registration but extend to numerous activities throughout the school year.

This presentation will focus on the role of the school district liaison office, the mandate, the intent, and the challenges one encounters in dealing with schools. After discussion of the legislation, I will share, based on my personal experiences as a school homeless liaison, some of the difficulties encountered by families as they attempt to negotiate the system. Finally, I will suggest some ways in which educators may help make schooling a more positive experience for homeless students.

Author

• Amy Warke, Flossmoor School District 161