Abstract
Homelessness has serious and often severe implications for families, but in particular for their children. The effects of homelessness for children can be devastating and long lasting. Even after a child is no longer homeless, he or she can still suffering lingering effects. This paper examines these negative effects of homelessness on children and considers possible methods for mitigating these effects. It also relates these to the specific situation into Durham, North Carolina by discussing the homeless statistics in the city. As this paper will point out, one of the most effective ways to address this issue is to increase the availability of preschool programs for all children, including the homeless.
Homelessness continues to be one of most serious problems facing the United States today. It can be particularly daunting for families with children. According to the NCFH (National Center on Family Homelessness), one out of every 45 children in America (amounting to over 1.6 million) were homeless each year between 2006-2010. More than 40% of the children were six years old or under (America's Youngest Outcasts, 2011, p. 1). This paper will focus on the negative impact that homelessness has on children, and especially very young children. Beyond this, it will examine programs and policies that could help to minimize such harmful effects.
General Homeless Statistics
Homelessness has become much more common for families, with financial problems resulting from unemployment, a death in the family or a high cost medical emergency frequently being the underlying reason why a family can no longer afford to rent or make payments on a home. HUD (the US Department of Housing and Urban Development) reports that during the period from 2007-2010, the number of homeless families in the United States rose by roughly 20%. Since that time, the numbers of only worsened. Currently, there are more families in homeless shelters than have ever been homeless before (The 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, 2010, 13). As is often the case with poor families, the typical homeless family is comprised of a single mother in her low to mid 20s and an average of two children. The mother is frequently poorly educated, often lacking a high school degree. The children are most often less than six years old.
It should also be pointed out that for the majority of the homeless, stays in homeless shelters are usually quite short, and the majority of those who stay in shelters never return to them. HUD also reported that roughly 30 percent of homeless shelter stays lasted less than one week, while more than 60 percent lasted no more than a month (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011, p. 11). For those families that return, it is often an indicator of their difficulty in finding housing they can afford. There are a number of factors that can influence whether a family will return to emergency shelter, such as their level of educational achievement, their prior work history and whether they qualified for a housing subsidy. It should also be noted that many homeless families do not (or will not) visit homeless shelters, with about 21% of them stay in non-shelter areas (such as cars, parks and public spaces).
Homelessness Statistics for Durham, North Carolina
For such a relatively small city, Durham, North Carolina has a sizable homeless problem. In the period from October 2014 to September 2015, the data of that Durham submitted for HUD's 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report provided the following information about homeless families in the city. Over the course of the year, there were homeless 106 families in the city, with a total of 204 children. Of these families, roughly 65 were living in emergency shelters at any given time. In total, there were an average of 372 homeless people on the streets or in shelters on any given night (City of Durham, 2015, p. 6.)
Defining Homelessness
According to the government, homelessness describes those who don't have a regular insufficient residence where they sleep at night. This definition encompasses not only adults, but also young children and teenagers who were forced to share a home with someone else because of their family's loss of housing or economic hardships. This is sometimes referred to as "doubling up." But might also be living in trailer parks, hotels or campgrounds because they have no other alternative. Many will be living in emergency or homeless shelters or find themselves either in hospitals or in the care of the state waiting to be placed in a foster home. All too often, homeless families and their children can be found living in and in buildings, cars bus stations and similar locations. Many children of migrants live in such conditions.
Another aspect of homelessness is that the families caught up in it have to move frequently from place to place, either in an attempt to find shelter, affordable housing or a job. Frequent changes in residence, loss of employment by parents and shifts in schools can all result in turbulence in a child's life (Nabors & Weist, 2002, p. 269). In certain instances, a families homeless situation can lead to a child's separation from his or her parents. This can either be because the child has been left with friends or relatives of the family or because the state has placed the child in foster care. Research has indicated that this instability and frequent transitions in their lives negatively impact a child's development physically, emotionally and cognitively. In particular, his or her educational goals can be severely impeded (Gibbs, 2004, p. 26).
The National Center on Family Homelessness points out that homeless children are much more likely to go hungry than other children. Such homeless children are also more likely to experience both moderate and severe health problems, including chronic medical conditions like asthma. Furthermore, their access to medical and dental care to deal with such problems is extremely limited (Grant et al., 2007, p. 448). Furthermore, children who are homeless are three times as likely to experience behavioral or emotional issues, including depression, anxiety and misplaced aggression. Often as a direct consequence of this, such children are roughly twice as likely to drop out of school and be expelled. Roughly 25% of all homeless children have regularly witnessed violence (Anooshian, 2005, p. 374).
It is well-known that such experiences in early life can have a very negative impact on a child's health and development. For instance, when a child regularly encounters high levels of stress and adversity in life, there is a direct and corresponding effect on behaviors, learning and physical well-being, as the following chart demonstrates:
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness also reports that four out of five homeless women with children have been victims of the mystic violence, with resulting problems with their children's emotional and behavioral well-being (Child Trends, 2015, p. 2). Furthermore, research done regarding homeless families with young children (particularly those headed by single mothers) showed that more than half of of these children had significant developmental difficulties, including major problems with their social, motor and language skills. For children living in safe and stable homes, this number was only 16%.
Such homeless children may also face a greater likelihood of behavioral and social problems once they reached the school system, particularly since they frequently lack certain abilities and skills that other children have, such as self control and the ability to focus on specific tasks. Recent research has pointed out that children between the ages of 5-7 who have lived for any length of time in a homeless shelter experienced inferior academic results in schools, including grades and low IQ scores. They also exhibited negative behaviors, including hostility toward others, disorderly conduct, anxiety and depression. This research also demonstrated though that such children could be taught coping behaviors that allow them to achieve greater social skills and better academic results regardless of their IQ scores at the beginning of the school year. Thus, teaching and encouraging such coping methods can be a key part of dealing with the developmental problems so often seen in homeless children.
Even for children who no longer live in shelters, homelessness does seem to have long-term negative effects on their academic performance, although this is not yet been extended or examined for children below school age. However, in a study carried out on students in grades 2-5 in urban settings, it was found that homeless students scored significantly lower on math and reading tests even when compared to low income students who were provided with adequate housing. Certainly, the academic achievement for children of poor families living in homes was lower than that found among more affluent families, but significantly it was even lower for children who are homeless. Based on these findings, it seems clear that in addition to poverty itself, homelessness is a significant factor in floor development among children living in poverty. Of course, it can be compounded by other factors, such as children living in single-parent family units, the use of English as a second language or a child status as a minority (Obradovic et al., 2009, p. 512). It should also be noted that homeless children are also much more likely to end up in special education classes, as the following graphic demonstrates:
On researchers have shown that a homeless child's academic performance may be directly related to both repeated grades and higher incidence of school mobility (as compared with other children living in homes). For instance, a study of poor children in an ethnically diverse group demonstrated that children between the ages of 11-17 who had finally been homeless had attended on average 4.2 schools (not including kindergarten). By comparison, students of similar ethnicity living in homes for this same span of years attended on average 3.1 schools. Furthermore, although both groups studied demonstrated lower than average academic performance, less than 8% of children who had never been homeless had ever repeated a grade, while this number stood at over 21% for children who had been homeless at some point (Rafferty et al, 2004, p. 188).
A 2011 report by the US permanent education indicated that between 2008-2009, the number of homeless children enrolled in preschool increased more than 20%. Unfortunately, following the economic turmoil resulting from the Great Recession of 2008, there was a significant increase in homelessness across the country. As a consequence, the percentage of homeless children enrolled in preschool rock by roughly 7%. During the same time period, the number of children at school age increased significantly (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2009, p. 12).
It's also important to note that child care programs in preschool programs are not necessarily available in every location throughout the country in the same way that standard public school programs like kindergarten and grades 1-12 are. A number of states have no preschool programs whatsoever (Barnett et al. 2014, p. 9). Furthermore, each state's enrollment criteria differs greatly. In the majority of states, preschool programs are terribly underfunded and do not have sufficient resources to provide services for all of the eligible children in the state. Astonishingly, in the average state only 24% of four-year-olds and 4% of three-year-olds are provided with the service. In a number of states, less man 4% of four-year-olds are in any sort of preschool program at all.
Beyond the problems associated with the limited availability of preschool programs for all children, including the homeless, homeless families face additional problems when attempting to enroll their children in the programs that do exist. For instance, many of these parents do not have the knowledge, resources or time to enroll their young children in preschool programs. Language barriers can also represent a significant difficulty for these families. Furthermore, many of these parents live in fear that entering their children into preschool programs will expose them as homeless and lead to their children being taken away from them.
Additional barriers for the homeless attempting to use preschool to solve some of their children's developmental problems relate to the design and structure of such programs. Often, preschool programs fail to conform themselves to the needs of the homeless. For instance, many of these programs have different definitions of just what homelessness means, which can impact a family's eligibility for such services. Also, programs may refuse to accept children from homeless families because those children lack immunizations, proof of residence or birth certificates. However, because of the very high mobility of homeless families, children in homeless families who are placed on waiting lists while their families try to obtain necessary documentation often move before they are accepted. Finally, homeless families usually have little or no transportation capability, which makes it very difficult for them to ensure that their children can attend preschool.
General Recommendations
Ensuring that homeless families quickly move back into a more permanent and stable form of housing is of course a best practice when it comes to solving this issue. At the same time, there are certain things that can be done to ensure better results for homeless children until such time as their families can secure housing, as can be seen below:
Prioritizing the Children of the Homeless: Preschool and other childcare programs should prioritize placement for homeless children. A number of preschool programs, including Head Start, currently do this and it is proving to be very effective.
Eliminate Other Barriers for Homeless Children: Agencies should carefully review, evaluate and modify any programs, policies or regulations to ensure that they do not create unnecessary barriers that prevent homeless children from getting access to preschool programs. Definitions for homelessness should be expanded and exceptions made for homeless families that have limited paperwork. Despite federal regulations to the contrary, a number of local state agencies and programs frequently interfere with a child's enrollment in such programs until all the records are available.
Better coordinate The Services Provided to Homeless Children: improved coordination between agencies will allow them to better serve the needs of homeless children. This would in turn make it easier for such children to take advantage of existing services. For instance, there could be better coordination between private sector providers, nonprofit agencies, Head Start and the public school system that would make it easier for children to transfer quickly from one program to another. This is particularly useful for homeless families because of their high mobility.
Durham's Current Approach
The city of Durham's current approach to dealing with the effects that homelessness has on children is to alleviate the homeless problem itself. In order to accomplish this, the city has established a 10 year plan with the goal of significantly reducing or eliminating homelessness in Durham. This plan is comprised of four parts:
Ensuring that homeless families have access to affordable housing
Ensuring that homeless families and individuals are quickly placed in a more permanent form of housing (as opposed to temporary shelters)
Trying to ensure that the homeless have sufficient income to remain in permanent housing
Instituting programs and policies to assist families in preventing homelessness
In Durham, the primary means by which the above will be accomplished is through the creation (over a period of 10 years) of much more affordable and accessible housing for the homeless (City of Durham, 2010, p. 10). Ensuring that families in the city have access to housing they can afford is viewed by the city is the best method for ensuring that children avoid the negative effects caused by homelessness. Unfortunately, the city is far behind in its plan.
In conclusion, the issue of educational and developmental problems among homeless children has grown ever greater in recent years. The fragmented nature of programs in the United States, including preschool programs, makes it difficult to provide an effective answer to this problem. Clearly, if homeless children are going to get the education they need to rise up on their circumstances, the federal government needs to work with state and local agencies, as well as the private sector, to ensure that this opportunity is provided. Durham North Carolina seems to be making a concerted effort to deal with the homeless problem in general, and it is to be hoped that this will have a significant effect on the specific problem of homelessness for families and children.
References
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Anooshian, L. J. (2005). Violence and aggression in the lives of homeless children. Journal of Family Violence, 20(6), 373-387.
Barnett, & Carolan, Squires, Brown, Horowitz. The National Institute for Early Education
Research. (2014). The state of preschool 2014: The state preschool yearbook. Retrieved from: http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/Yearbook2014_full3.pdf
Child Trends (2015). Homeless Children and Youth. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/112 _Homeless_Children_and_Youth.pdf
Gibbs, H. J. (2004). Educating homeless children. Techniques, 79(2), 25-29.
Nabors, L. A., & Weist, M. D. (2002). School mental health services for homeless children. The Journal of School Health, 72(7), 269.
National Center on Family Homelessness. (2009). America’s youngest outcasts: State report card on child homelessness. Available at:
www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/pdf/rc_full_report.pdf.
Obradovic´, J., Long, J. D., CutulI, J. J., Chan, C-K., Hinz, E., Heistad, D., & Masten, A. S. (2009). Academic achievement of homeless and highly mobile children in an urban school district: Longitudinal evidence on risk, growth, and resilience. Development and Psychopathology 21, 493–518.
Rafferty, Y., Shinn, M., & Weitzman, B. C. (2004). Academic achievement among formerly homeless adolescents and their continuously housed peers. Journal of School Psychology, 42(3), 179-199.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development (2011). The 2010 annual homeless assessment report to Congress. Retrieved from http://www.hudhre.info/documents/2010HomelessAssessmentReport.pdf
