| The word homelessness has different meanings to different people. For this article I will give a social definition, economic definition and a personal definition of homeless people in general and a definition of the homeless child. The Steward B. McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. 11301 (1994) defines homelessness as a person who "lacks a fixed, regular, adequate night-time residence and has a night-time residency that is:
1. Supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations.
2. An institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized.
3. A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. The term homeless individual does not include any individual imprisoned or otherwise detained pursuant to an Act of Congress or a state law.
The National Coalition for Homelessness defines Homelessness as not having a place to sleep. Losing all contact with friends and family and uprooting your children from school. It means suffering the frustration and degradation of living hand to mouth, and depending on the generosity of strangers, or the efficiency of a government agency for your survival and for your children's survival.
My personal definition is that homeless is the deprivation of a personal place of solitude, comfort, and security to call your own.
The National Coalition for the Homeless defines a homeless child as one who lacks a regular and adequate nighttime place of abode. Children or youth living in welfare hotels, transitional housing, shelters, the streets, cars, abandoned buildings, and other inadequate accommodations are considered homeless. For this paper I will use this last definition to study the impact of homelessness on a child or youth and education.
My reflection on Homelessness
The faces of the homeless people are a reflection of the problems of our nation. Thousands of Americans are eating out of trashcans and living on the streets. I see them on the street corner or rummaging through a trash bin looking for food and I cannot help but stare. I stare out of a combination of curiosity and compassion. The simple basic necessities of life that most of us take for granted, these people do not have. Being homeless is more than not having a home; it is the absence of security, dignity, and a place to put things that are a connection to the past. It is relying on strangers and government for survival and having no sense of stability and family roots.
There is a real person behind the empty face with empty life. They have a past life behind them and hopefully a better future ahead of them. That hopeful future for the homeless can happen if we start with the homeless children. By creating opportunities for them to have options in their lives to choose from besides homelessness and hopelessness. Their parents have had to choose between limited, mostly unattractive alternatives that usually don't do much to improve their lives. These limited options are what keep people trapped on the streets, frustrated, in crisis, trying to beat the odds. Sometimes after all the options seem exhausted, people just stop trying. If we give the children of these homeless adults an opportunity to achieve an education, they will have options to choose from and have hope to end the endless cycle of homelessness.
The Purpose of this Article
In this article I will focus on education and the homeless child and youth. It will examine the statistics of homeless children and youth, the causes of homelessness, the laws that help the homeless children and youth, how homeless children and youth can be educated, and the issues affecting the education of the homeless child and youth.
This issue has particular importance to me since I am a teacher because it affects me directly in the public school system. With the downturn in the economy, I believe this will be an even larger issue in the future. This paper is intended to educate myself and the reader on this issue so that an educated opinion on the issue can be made based on the facts. I want to understand the issues and facts more thoroughly so that I can do my part as an educator and concerned citizen to help.
Why are Children Homeless
Children and youth are homeless due to the circumstances of the adults they are dependent upon. The circumstances behind homelessness could be from many different causes. In the book, "Causes of Homelessness: unemployment and falling wages", the causes of homelessness are identified as poverty, mental illness, lack of affordable housing, not enough government subsidized housing, eroding work opportunities, low paying jobs, lack of affordable healthcare, family breakdown, lack of education, developmentally disabled, lack of social security benefits, revitalization of cities, decline in public assistance, substance abuse, poor job skills, lack of transportation, hard times, downsizing, unequal wages, natural disaster, fire. (Jaroszewski L. 1996)
Due to all of these unfortunate circumstances in the lives of their families, children and youth may be left homeless. Some children and youth may be put under the care of the State and be held in an institution because they have no other place to live. Children of migratory families are homeless because they are living in accommodations not fit for habitation. Runaway children and youth may end up homeless because they have to live in runaway shelters, or abandoned buildings. School-age children who are unwed mothers or expectant mothers may have to live in homes for unwed mothers because they have no other living accommodations. Children sometimes are left in hospitals beyond the time they would normally stay for health reasons. These children have been left because their families have abandoned them and they have no other place to live. Throwaway children or youth whose families kick them out of their home may end up living on the streets, homeless shelters, or! inadequate accommodations.
National Statistics on Homelessness
A composite picture of homelessness in the U.S. as reported by National Coalition for Homelessness Report (June, 2006):
• 3.5 million people are homeless with 1.35 million of them children
• 43% are single men
• 17% are single women
• 33% are families with children
• 42% Children under 5 years old
• 39% are children under 18
• 25% people ages 25-39
• 6% people ages 55-64
• 49% Africa American
• 35% Caucasian
• 13% Hispanic
• 2% Native American
• 1% Asian
• 22% are people with mental illnesses
• 11% are physically disabled
• 22% are victims of domestic violence
• 30% have addiction disorders
• 40% served in the armed forces
• 25% are working people.
The number of children and youth in homeless situations identified by State Department of Education increased from approximately 841,700 in 1997 to 930,200 in 2000. In the year 2000, the Urban Institute estimated that approximately 1.35 million children would experience homelessness by 2001. Since I will teach elementary school age children, I was disturbed to discover that in 2000, the State Department of Education reported that preschool and elementary age children comprise the largest numbers of children experiencing homelessness.
Educating the Homeless
Educating the homeless child can be a challenge for the teacher and the school district. Many times a teacher does not even know that a child is homeless. There are signs, however, that a teacher can look for to indicate that a child may be homeless. The signs to look for are chronic hunger and tiredness, erratic attendance and tardiness, poor grooming and personal hygiene, consistent lack of preparation for school with books, supplies, homework, and papers signed, extreme withdrawal, shyness, nervousness, anger, and aggression, and resistant to parting with personal possessions in school.
With all of these obstacles to creating a stable learning environment for the homeless child or youth, a teacher can still help the homeless child in the classroom. A teacher should always maintain the privacy of the child by discussing situations involving the homelessness away from other classmates. Since the homeless child has no sense of stability, the teacher should take steps to help acclimate the child in the classroom. The teacher can do this by assigning a "buddy" to help the homeless student acclimate. The teacher should locate resources for the child to help them participate in school activities such as field trips and class projects. Giving the child a special job in the classroom can help create some stability. The homeless child will probably have special academic needs due to their living environment. The teacher can arrange for tutoring that can help with these needs and help them to catch up when they miss assignments.
In addition to the teacher, and most importantly, the school district needs to coordinate an educational plan that includes provisions for students in homeless situations. The district can use funding from the McKinney program and other sources to develop an educational program that does not isolate or stigmatize students who are experiencing homelessness. The program should be based on the educational needs of the student and not their living situations. The district can collaborate with teen pregnancy programs to ensure that pregnant teen or parent can have immediate access to the program. A collaboration with the PTA group can work to enlighten parents of the needs of students in the school who are in homeless situations. The district staff development team can also play an important role in helping homeless students. The team should develop a plan to focus on development activities that will meet the needs of students in homeless situations.
Obstacles to Educating the Homeless
There are many obstacles that homeless children and youth face to enrolling and succeeding in school. According to the Planning and Evaluation Service (2002), the biggest barrier for children and youth in homeless situations is transportation to and from school. States and districts often have limited resources to address transportation needs.
Another obstacle is that homeless students make frequent moves from school to school, which has a negative effect on their academic success. These students have difficulty meeting state or district mandates regarding the number of days they must attend school or stay enrolled. The slow transfer of district records along with the different course requirements from school to school makes it difficult for the students to be promoted or receive a high school diploma.
To make a bad situation even worse, the homeless student may not be able to participate in federal and state programs due to their transient lifestyle. There is hope, however, for these children to achieve success in school. The hope lies in current legislation to help these homeless students and the cooperation of some states and school districts that have come up with ways to help overcome these obstacles.
Legislation to Help the Homeless
There is federal legislation called the McKinney-Vento Act that protects the educational rights of children and youth that are homeless, but this legislation has not been adequately funded for state and local efforts to fully implement it. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (1999) the current authorized amount for Homeless Children and Youth program is $70 million, but the amount that Congress has appropriated is $55 million.
According to the he National Coalition for the Homeless (1999), the recently reauthorized McKinney-Vento Act requires school districts to ensure that children of homeless individuals receive equal access to the same free and appropriate public education as other children. The act requires school districts to stabilize children in their original schools by providing transportation so they can continue their education without disruption. The act also requires that homeless children be immediately enrolled in a new school. It provides financial assistance to states and local school districts to implement provisions guaranteeing school access and stability. Funds are used to help schools provide identification, enrollment assistance, school supplies, and transportation.
Conclusion
It is important to have an understanding of the homeless person and their educational rights and issues. I realize that the homeless person is not so very different from the people who are not homeless. We are all human beings, with the only difference being that some people have more and some have less. This is the way it will always be in our nation, so we must find a way to make sure everyone will at least have an opportunity to have their basic needs met. One of those basic needs is an education.
Any one of us human beings may someday have less if something in their present lives were to change. What if you were to lose your job or your spouse were to die? What if a family member was to develop a serious long-term illness? What if you were to lose you family support system? Since most people in the United States live paycheck to paycheck, and the current downturn in economy, homelessness may be closer than you think. The future looks ominous for everyone. Technology is taking over many jobs and the trend will continue in the future.
It is time to look at the faces of the poor and homeless and see ourselves. It is time to look at the faces of the homeless children and youth and realize that they need and deserve an education. Ending homelessness depends on educating the homeless children so that they have an opportunity to obtain livable income jobs in the future. Government, state, administrators, and educators can all do their part together to ensure these homeless children have as many options and opportunities to choose from as possible. Their education will provide them hope for a brighter future. We, as educators should be ready to take on that responsibility.
References: Website: http://www.nationalhomeless.org
No author (November 1, 2002). Education for homeless children and youth program: learning to succeed. Planning and Evaluation Service. Retrieved on august 5, 2003 from http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/esed/learnsucceed/exec_sum.html
No Author. (June 9, 2003). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from My.ED.gov
Jaroszewski, L. (1996). Causes of homelessness. Unemployment and falling wages. Spare Change, October, 1996, 1-4
Statistical Sources: Michigan Department of Education National Coalition for the Homeless The Urban Institute
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