Homeless Outreach
Homeless children face many educational barriers due to the disruption and trauma of not having a fixed, regular, and adequate place to live. Most of these children face educational disruption due to changing schools as they move from one temporary location to another. Homeless children and youths also have higher incidences of illness, depression, and exposure to violence compared to their stably housed peers. Specific educational challenges faced by homeless students include:
- Not being identified for services
- Difficulty enrolling without records or, in the case of an unaccompanied homeless youth, without a parent or guardian present
- Difficulty regularly attending school
- Lack of stable transportation
- Not accruing credits on time
- Lack of basic needs including food, clothing, and adequate housing
- Stress, depression, trauma
- Embarrassment and stigma related to their housing conditions
Many homeless youths are also unaccompanied, meaning they are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian. Being both homeless and unaccompanied leaves youths fending for themselves in a world where they are vulnerable to a myriad of potentially life-threatening dangers.
For all these reasons, school can often be the one place of stability, safety, and support in the tumultuous lives of these students.
(source: https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Local-Liaison-Toolkit-2020.pdf)
Resources:
ISBE Homeless Guidance: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Homeless-Guidance.pdf
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act: https://nche.ed.gov/mckinney-vento/