A teacher candidate needs to learn the fundamental tenets of family involvement. These basic premises are essential for building a productive experience with parents to enhance student learning and support family life.  To be successful in parent involvement, a teacher must:

1. understand the cultural and socio-economic challenges, strengths, and aspirations of families;
2. recognize the primacy of the home as an authentic and potential place of learning; and,
3. cultivate a collaborative, enriching, and respectful relationship with the student’s parents. 

Beliefs in these principles, however, are put to a severe test when a teacher works with students and parents caught in homeless situations.  Homelessness for children is a traumatic and confusing time.  A complex set of circumstances beyond their control and often their understanding has rendered them without a home. They worry about situations unimaginable to many people—a spot to sleep; a place to live; and a dire future for themselves, their siblings, and their parents.  They also are insecure about food and health, as well as separation from family members and an abrupt end to friendships.  They may feel shameful, and perhaps even guilty, regarding their plight.

Parents who are homeless often are extremely stressed.  They may be anxious, responding to many requirements, such as working, attending school/ training, looking for permanent housing, and building a future of their families.  Some are escaping from domestic violence.  They struggle to achieve these objectives with the stigma of homelessness weighing upon them.

A teacher’s sensitivity and support should be the cornerstones of any relationship with these families.  In the midst of chaos, a teacher can be a source of hope, encouragement, and positive reinforcement in relationships with the family.  A homeless life is fraught with risk and uncertainty.  The loss of the nurturing environment that a home provides undermines the development of children.  A teacher can make the school a place where a student who is homeless can find security, solace, joy, and acceptance — a safe haven (Wong, Peace, Wang, Feeley, and Carlson. 2005).

This article presents the main principles that underpin quality parental involvement for students experiencing homelessness.  These elements lay the foundation for a successful approach to parental involvement.

1.  A teacher that understands the cultural and socio-economic challenges, strengths, and aspirations of families is needed.

Addressing the needs of children experiencing homelessness is a new challenge for many school districts.  Typically educators are unfamiliar with the extraordinary hardships of students and parents who experience homelessness, and they find it difficult to respond to the multiple and complex needs of this growing population.

The face of homelessness has changed significantly over the past few decades.  The public has generally associated homelessness with men asking for spare change or “bag ladies” living on streets.  These weathered and life-hardened adult facades are now joined by distressed countenances of unemployed or underemployed fathers and mothers and by the innocent mien of infants, children, and youths.

Estimates of the number of people who are homeless vary, depending on the methodology used to identify and count them (Drever 1999).  People in homeless situations, especially families, are difficult to count due to their transient nature.  Moreover, people experiencing homelessness are reluctant to identify themselves and to be counted as such because of its stigma.

A recent study estimated that 744,313 people experienced homelessness across the country during January 2005.  Fifty-nine (59) percent were single adults.  In addition, 303,411 (41%) were parents and children, comprising 98,452 homeless families (National Alliance to End Homelessness 2007, 12).  This count, however, ignored the doubled-up population.  Families who lose their homes due to economic hardships are likely to move into the homes of relatives and friends before seeking help at public shelters.  Families living in a double-situation are considered under law as homeless (Indiana Department of Education Division of Educational Options, 2007).  Moreover, this particular research was done during a single point in time, January 2005.  It did not include those who become homeless over the course of the year.   Other studies with a broader definition of homelessness and measuring occurrence over an entire year have identified higher estimates than this study.   One report stated that between 2.3 million and 3.5 million people experience homelessness over one year in the United States (Satcher 2004, 6) .  Families with children comprise 42% of the total homeless population, according to another analysis (USA Today, 10/11/2005).  Two hundred thousand (200,000) children are estimated to be homeless each day (Satcher 2004, 6) .

1.1 A teacher  that empathizes with the daily social, economic, personal, and psychological stresses in families.

While there is disagreement on the size of the homeless population, there is consensus that families are the fastest growing sub-group of the homeless.  Since the 1980s, family homelessness has emerged with the rise of housing costs and the fall of real wages (Tull 1992). The primary causes of family homelessness are the lack of safe, affordable housing, declining real wages, cuts in social welfare programs and federal assistance, and eroding work opportunities for many workers (National Coalition for the Homeless, 1999a; Parrot 2005; United States Conference of Mayors 2000). Twenty percent of adults who are homeless work (National Coalition for the Homeless 1999b), but they work in low-wage jobs that do not make ends meet (Wolf 1999).

Residential instability is common for families experiencing homelessness:
• One study found that the average school age child experiencing homelessness moved 3.6 times in the past year (Rosenheck, et. al. undated).
• Of those students experiencing homelessness who are enrolled, only 77% attend school regularly (National Center on Family Homelessness, undated).
• According to one study, 41% of students experiencing homelessness attended two different schools over a given year and 28% attended three or more different schools (National Center on Family Homelessness 1999).
The experience of being homeless has a devastating impact on children and youth and can result in:
• Higher rates of acute and chronic illnesses including ear infection, stomach problems, asthma, and speech problems (National Center on Family Homelessness, undated).
• Higher rates of developmental delays (Molnar et al.,1990) and learning disabilities (National Center on Family Homelessness, undated).
• Higher incidents of emotional problems: 47% of children and youth experiencing homelessness suffer from anxiety, depression, or withdrawal compared to 18% of housed children. (National Center on Family Homelessness, undated).

1.2 A teacher that is willing to adjust perceptions about the range of dispositions, backgrounds, degree of education, and experiences of parents/guardians.

When families are forced to leave their own housing, they often move to other towns to live in doubled-up situations, escape domestic violence, find shelter, and otherwise seek help.  Unfortunately, some school personnel do not welcome these families into the new district.  They feel resentment toward families who do not pay taxes in the town but add to the burden of education and other social services, particularly in cases where resources are already stretched thin.  Moreover, some school officials may feel the inclusion of homeless children will lower proficiency test scores in an era with a heightened emphasis on school accountability.

Teachers must not be judgmental about parents who are homeless.  They must learn about the plight of these families and the challenges to parenting while homeless.  For parents, the inability to provide a nurturing home environment for their children can lead to debilitating sense of guilt, stress, and loss of self-esteem. They feel misunderstood and isolated.  Homelessness is a stigma that is hard to shed.

2. A teacher that recognizes the primacy of the home as an authentic and potential place of learning.

Family life in shelters, publicly funded motels, and other temporary living space is life lived in public or shared space  --  there is little privacy, child rearing spaces, or area for doing homework and learning.  A family living in a motel find themselves squeezed into a single room without even a small corner for homework.  Children living in a domestic violence shelter will be restricted from going to libraries for security reasons.  Few families have access to computers and the Internet to foster learning.  Substandard housing, cars, temporary campsites, and other places do not come equipped with study rooms, bookshelves, computer terminals, educational toys, and other materials that constitute the learning environment many people take for granted.

2.1. The teacher acknowledges that the parent remains the child’s first teacher throughout the school years.

In this restrictive environment, parents who are homeless must meet the needs of the whole child, so that child is in a social, physical, emotional, and mental position to learn and achieve educational success .  However, they may feel distraught, powerless, and isolated.  The teacher must play a central and active role to support the parent as the child’s first teacher.

In this role, the teacher must first understand that no one person can respond alone to help the parent address the complex, interrelated problems of a student in a homeless situation.  Meeting the whole needs of a child experiencing homelessness is not merely a parental and teacher duty, but also a school and community challenge.  As one educator who has assisted many homeless families in her school district says,   “Collaboration and cooperation are the only ways to produce an effective program and to meet the educational needs of students experiencing homelessness” (Wong, Peace, Wang, Feeley, and Carlson, 2005, 9).  While acknowledging the necessity of a broad comprehensive effort, the teacher understands that parental involvement must be at the center of this collaborative effort.

2.2. The teacher has knowledge of community resources, recognition of the risk factors brought on by poverty, and a willingness to refer families to the appropriate agencies.

There are four types of resources that a teacher can draw upon: the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act, the district’s homeless liaison, school and community programs for the child, and community programs for the parents.

1. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, was reauthorized in  2001 (National Law Center on Poverty and Homelessness, undated). Responding to learning gaps and lagging achievement of students in homeless situations, the Act states that schools must provide to students who are homeless an equitable level and quality of services provided to other students, including transportation, educational services, and nutritional and health services (Wong, Salomon, Thistle Elliott, Tallarita, and Reed, 2004) .  McKinney-Vento states that “it is the policy of Congress that homeless children and youths should have access to the education and other services they need to ensure that they have an opportunity to meet the same challenging State student academic achievement standards to which all students are held.’’   The Act establishes clear mandates that can be used to leverage services and programs for students who are homeless.

2. The McKinney-Vento Act requires that school districts appoint a Homeless Liaison.  Liaisons serve a pivotal role in coordinating and providing services to students experiencing homelessness.  A liaison knows the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act to ensure that homeless students reach high standards, understands the legal rights of families who are homeless, is cognizant of school services that are available to assist students, and is familiar of public and private programs in the community available to both children and parents.  A liaison tries to build a formal referral and collaborative network in the school district and the community.  As the central contact for services and programs for families that are homeless, a district’s homeless liaison is a key support for teachers and parents in homeless situations.

3. The McKinney-Vento Act establishes the expectation that schools will provide quality education to students experiencing homelessness so that they can meet the same high academic standards expected of all students.  The Act recognizes that this often requires educators to go beyond the classroom and school to find what the child needs.  School and community resources for the child often include: Title I, Talented and Gifted Programs, guidance and counseling, case management, shelter-based tutorial, homework clubs, Saturday enrichment programs, library reading programs, and after-school technology centers.

4. Parents experiencing homelessness typically have a paramount agenda: to find permanent housing for their families.  They may be so distraught about their plight that they cannot fully engage in collaborating with their children’s teachers.  The parent also may still be dealing with domestic violence issues. A child's welfare is directly related to the well being of their parents.  Therefore, teacher and the homeless liaison may want to help to obtain resources for parents.  These can include: housing subsidies and vouchers, domestic violence protection, legal aid, job training and career development courses, GED preparation and other educational services, life skills training, ESL classes and language training, counseling, substance abuse prevention, and mental health services.

3. The teacher cultivates a collaborative, enriching, and respectful relationship with the student’s parents.

In identifying students as homeless, a teacher risks focusing on their differences from other children and further isolating and stigmatizing them.  These children want and deserve recognition of their individual strengths as well as needs.  Parents who are homeless have the same goals for their children as other parents, but they also must overcome difficult barriers. As a teacher finds out about the unique situation and challenges of each family, he or she must be sensitive to the dignity and self-esteem of families who are homeless, as they do all families.

3.1 A teacher that  believes in the strength of families and the ultimate resiliency of the family unit.

People in homeless situations are often viewed as members of a fixed population who are unable to pull themselves out of their own predicament.  The fact is that this population is diverse in how long it remains homeless.  Research has identified 23% of this population as chronically homeless, approximately 150,000 to 200,000 people (National Alliance to End Homelessness 2007, 12).  The chronically homeless are unaccompanied adults who remain without a home for more than a year or have repeated episodes of homelessness. The other segment of the population – approximately 80% -- is temporarily homeless (Satcher 2004, 10).  They regain housing within a few months to a year.  Families are among the temporarily homeless, manifesting their strength and resiliency.

Conclusion

A common problem for students who are homeless is that quiet study space is limited or not available at “home,” be it a shelter, motel, campground, or friend’s couch.  To overcome this barrier, officials in one school allowed students to stay in school until parents could pick them up or the shelter opened at 6 pm; the teachers volunteered to stay late on a rotating basis to make this possible.  Another school allowed students who are homeless access to technology such as Internet and word processing after regular school hours.  Teachers in still another school understand that students in homeless situations are weary and find it challenging to do homework in the evenings; they allow for extra time and make-up work.  One shelter has hired two teachers from the district to do tutoring in evenings and weekends.

These accommodations made to students experiencing homelessness were the result of collaboration between parents, teachers, shelter officials, and homeless liaisons.  Rather than lowering expectations or standards for students experiencing homelessness, these strategies aim at maintaining high expectations and providing whatever is needed to meet these expectations.  Parental involvement, school and community cooperation, and teacher empathy are key factors in achieving high student performance.

 
References

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Drever, Anita, 1999.  Homeless Count Methodologies: An Annotated Bibliography. Los Angeles: UCLA Weingart Center.

Indiana Department of Education Division of Educational Options. 2007. “Frequently Asked Questions: McKinney-Vento—Education For Homeless Children And Youths” http://www.doe.state.in.us/alted/mckinney_vento_faq.html (last visited January 29, 2007)

Kasindorf, Martin, 2005.  “Nation Taking A New Look At Homelessness, Solutions”
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Molnar, J. et al., 1990.  “Constantly Compromised: The Impact of Homelessness on Children,” 46 Journal of Social Issues 113, 113-14.

National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2007.  Homeless Counts.  Washington, DC: Author.

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National Coalition for the Homeless, 1999b.  “NCH Fact Sheet # 4: Employment and Homelessness.”  http://nch.ari.net/jobs.html (last visited Feb. 23, 2004).

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Parrot, S, 1995. How Much Do We Spend on ‘Welfare’?  Washington, DC: Center On Budget and Policy Priorities.

Rosenheck, Robert, Ellen Bassuk, and Amy Salomon, undated. Special Populations of Homeless Americans. Washington, DC: Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services.  http://aspe.hhs.gov/progsys/homeless/symposium/2-Spclpop.htm (last visited January 29, 2007)

Satcher, David, 2004.  “Health Disparities and the Homeless.” Atlanta Foundation Forum. Atlanta: Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.

Tull, Jim, 1992.  “Homelessness: An Overview.” 8 New England Journal of Public Policy 29, 29-32

United States Conference of Mayors, 2000.  A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities 2000: A 25-City Survey, http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/hungersurvey/2000/hunger2000.pdf   (last visited Apr. 12, 2004).

Wolf, Richard, 1999. “Survey Blames High Costs, Low Wages for Hunger, Housing Crisis,” U.S.A. Today, Dec. 16, A4.

Wong, John, Amy Salomon, Lynda Thistle Elliott, Louis Tallarita, and Shelley Reed, 2004.  "McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Subtitle B--Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program: Turning Good Law into Effective Education," Georgetown Journal for Poverty Law and Policy, Vol. 11.2.

Wong, John, Jennifer Peace, Anne Wang, Caitlin Feeley, and Carlson, 2005. Safe Havens: School, Community, and the Education of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness. Newton, MA: Education Development Center.  http://eec.edc.org/PDF/safehavens.org

This article is also published in part in Grant, Kathy and Julie Ray, 2009.  Home, School, and Community Collaboration:
Culturally Responsive Family Involvement, Sage Publication, available at:  http://www.sagepub.com/textbooksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book231623&