Homeless Children in Our Schools

There are over one million homeless children in the United States alone. These children don't know what they'll eat for dinner much less where or if they'll be able to attend school. A verity of situations constitute homelessness such as: Living with other families or friends due to hardship; those in homeless youth shelters; Families in motels or shelters; Sleeping in cars, abandoned buildings parks, the streets or other public spaces; living on campgrounds or awaiting foster care placement. The Federal government has taken note of these citizens our schools abandoned and demanded that they be included in our public education system, but do the schools really care? Are the homeless children of this country able to seek an education? Is that education equal to those received by housed residents? What educational environment can serve them best? Whether it's getting into a school, getting what they need from a school or getting the other services they need for school, the homeless have a hard time.

These children are among our most vulnerable: they often have poor nutrition, live in unhealthy conditions, have little or no access to medical care, being constantly moving or being evicted, and, in many cases, the trauma of witnessing domestic violence. Being uprooted can wreak havoc on their physical and mental well-being. The impact on their education is horrendous. Homelessness leads to frequent changing of schools, inability to get to school without transportation, and enrollment delays because of paperwork. As a result, many homeless children can be out of school for long periods of time, and face the struggle of having to adjust to new teachers, classmates and course work multiple times in the course of a year. It's no surprise that it can take months for a child to get back to where he was academically after changing schools. These children, especially those suffering from the trauma of witnessing domestic violence, are primary candidates for eventual dropping out of school because of serious behavior and learning problems or because they fall hopelessly behind in their schoolwork.