Unaccompanied Homeless Youth: Intersections of Homelessness, School Experiences, and Educational Policy

• In Event: Roundtable Session 111
  In Roundtable Session: Serving Families and Youth in Need in Schools and Communities

Abstract

School districts are faced with the challenge of serving the needs of a growing homeless student population. It is imperative for educators and others to understand the experiences of unaccompanied homeless youth. A qualitative research project was undertaken to obtain the perspectives of six high school students experiencing homelessness. Their narratives uncovered the following themes: (a) Homelessness as a misnomer, (b) Homelessness is not a choice, (c) Caring adults, and (d) Student agency. Their counternarratives challenge adults working with unaccompanied homeless youth to rethink and reimagine the manner in which homelessness and homeless educational policy is understood and framed to provide youth experiencing homelessness with the support and resources they identify as being critical to their educational engagement and success.

Author

• Ann M. Aviles de Bradley, Northeastern Illinois University