Homeless+Children+and+Their+Families

Understanding Homeless Students
 * Major barrier for students is transportation, so while they are legally able to continue to attend their school of origin, they are unable to get there because they have moved out of the district
 * Mckinney act to remove barriers homeless children face for attending school
 * Homeless children face a variety of other problems once they are able to get into a school such as attendance, academic failure/ low achievement, inappropriate placement, lack of special services
 * Teachers often don't want to be bothered with them because they 'know' they will be leaving soon
 * When teachers take on a negative attitude towards a student so do fellow students
 * Teachers have the ability to create a refuge for children that is sensitive to their needs and provides supportive interventions
 * Develop "gentle teaching" that is aware of the stresses students face on a daily basis and doesn't exacerbate the problem with coercive teaching methods, threats, humiliation, and indifference
 * Remember that students are not to blame
 * Invite students and their families to talk about their problems
 * "For those of us who are privileged and housed, advocacy requires making visible the overwhelming stench of rights denied, and children discarded" (p.58).

References:

Polakow, V. (2007). In the shadows of the ownership society: Homeless children and their families. In Sue Books (ed.), //Invisible children in the society and its schools.// Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. **Pages 50-59**.