Exploring the Lived Experiences of Homeless Families with Young Children

This study researched the experiences of homeless families with young children between the ages of four and eight. Many families experience homelessness every year; therefore, it is important for early childhood educators to have an understanding of how homelessness affects families with young children so that educators can effectively serve the needs of homeless families as they seek to find more permanent situations for themselves and their young children. Many early childhood educators may not understand how homelessness affects young learners. This research sought: (1) to understand reasons families with young children become homeless; (2) to become aware of beneficial resources available to families and their perceptions of the resources; (3) and to examine the developmental effects that homeless living situations can have on young children. The outcomes of this study will be used to inform early childhood educators about practices as they seek to serve young children ages four to eight living homeless. Research suggested common themes as to why and how parents and young children are affected by homelessness.     

Developing preservice teachers’ sensitivity and confidence: a service-learning experience at a homeless shelter

ABSTRACT

This article describes how early childhood preservice teachers can develop sensitivity toward and confidence in working with children who are homeless through a service learning project. The 14 weeks intervention provided an opportunity for undergraduate early childhood teacher candidates to gain real-life experience working with among the most vulnerable of all children—those who are homeless. Results of this project suggest that through implementing art integrated literacy activities with children in a homeless shelter, teacher candidates alter their deficit views of homelessness and at the same time develop confidence in their ability to work with homeless children and their families.     

Homelessness in the elementary school classroom: social and emotional consequences

This study examined elementary school teachers’ experiences working with homeless students. Specifically, we focused on the psychosocial impacts of homelessness on students and their teachers. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 teachers who worked at designated public schools for family homeless shelters. A prominent theme that emerged from teachers’ accounts was how the instability tied to homelessness affected students’ behavioral, social, and emotional adjustment in the classroom (e.g. externalizing problems, difficulty developing peer relationships, and withdrawn behavior). Teachers’ own social and emotional competencies (e.g. fostering positive teacher–student relationships, and perspective taking) influenced the manner in which they responded to their students’ needs. Findings suggest that critical components may be lacking articulation in the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program such as guidelines for teacher responsibilities, supports for teachers, and an emphasis not only on children’s academic but also social and emotional needs.     

THE STUDENT HOMELESSNESS CRISIS AND THE ROLE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES,ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT,AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Affecting more than 1 million youth, student homelessness is growing at an unprecedented rate in the United States. This is alarming because homeless students face significant barriers to their academic success and positive life outcomes. Unfortunately, despite the significant risks and challenges they face, homeless students often are overlooked and not provided with important educational and social‐emotional supports. In addition, information on student homelessness is relatively limited in the school psychology literature and practice guidelines, which can forestall efforts to help these students. To date, only a few empirical articles have been published on student homelessness in school psychology journals and in practitioner‐related literature. To help address this paucity, this article discusses barriers to the academic success of homeless students, as well as ways to reduce these barriers. Additionally, important protective factors, resilience, and ways to overcome homelessness‐related stigma are reviewed. Lastly, ways that school psychologists can become key stakeholders in efforts to help support the academic and life success of homeless students are discussed. The overall goal for this article is to encourage school psychologists to redouble their efforts to support a highly at‐risk yet often neglected student population.     

Homeless Children and Youth at Risk: The Educational Impact of Displacement

We know that homelessness creates conditions of risk for homeless children and youth (e.g., malnutrition, missing parental support, affiliation with deviant peers, disconnect from schooling, and so forth). Researchers also document that these states of risk have devastating physical, emotional, social, and educational impacts on young people. In this article, we explore the final issue—how displacement affects the educational well-being of homeless children and youth. We begin our review with a variable—mobility—that has a good deal of explanatory power for the educational impacts examined. We conclude with the consequences of homelessness that follow displaced children and youth into adulthood. In between we discuss an assortment of outcome factors: placement in special education, attendance, academic success, and graduation.     

State of rhetoric: neoliberal discourses for education in state of the state addresses and gubernatorial press releases

ABSTRACT

Policy elites use rhetoric in speeches and press releases to provide framing that is intended to influence public opinion. These rhetorical events can be treated as instances in which speech usefully promotes particular discourses. Indeed, elected officials are able to influence how individuals think about problems and solutions through speeches and press releases. Two important rhetorical events in which political elites advance frames for social issues are annual state of the state addresses (SoSA) given by U.S. governors and gubernatorial press releases that inform media reporting about state policy. This study employed policy discourse and rhetorical analyses to examine SoSAs and press releases as rhetorical events within the context of educational policy. Our findings show that governors framed the roles of state government, governors, and educational stakeholders within a discourse that perpetuates a neoliberal version of education. In this framing, governors situated education’s purpose as being workforce and economic development, ignoring its role in addressing social issues and preparing informed, engaged participants for democratic society. Given that individuals make decisions about how to address social issues and understand public institutions based on framing provided by political elites, these findings raise implications for state educational policies and the public purposes of education.     

A teacher’s journey: a first-person account of how a gay,Cambodian refugee navigated myriad barriers to become educated in the United States

Educational institutions, like most social service organizations, need to recognize intersectionality and complexity and move away from monolithic conceptions of homelessness – if they recognize homelessness at all. This first person account of a gay, Cambodian refugee illustrates the enormous complexity schools face in forming institutional responses for the needs of homeless, highly mobile, and economically displaced children and youth. This article demonstrates an effort to avoid reductionist definitions of homelessness and to include experiential representations of humans living at the margins (under the 5th Avenues of the world, in central parks, in downtown shelters, outside of the ethical and systemic “home” of current ideologies and social orders, under the politics of HIV in Africa, as refugees and as those “othered” by dominant social narratives). The research takes place in the context of the At Home At School program at Washington State University.     

Changes in the Social Skills and Behavior Problems of Homeless and Housed Children During the Preschool Year

This study examined the social competence and mental health of homeless and permanently housed preschool children enrolled in the Head Start program. Mothers and Head Start teachers rated the social skills and behavior problems of 38 homeless and 46 housed preschoolers twice during the school year. The researchers compared the behavior of the homeless and housed preschoolers soon after they entered Head Start, as well as changes in children's behavior six months after their initial assessment. Both parents and teachers reported that homeless children exhibited more behavioral problems than housed children at the beginning of the study, but perceived no significant differences in the two groups' social skills. Mothers reported significant declines in homeless children's compliance relative to their housed peers at the conclusion of the study, while teachers noted significant declines in homeless children's compliance and expressive skills. Both mothers and teachers reported that homeless children exhibited significantly greater increases in behavior problems than their housed peers over the study period. Findings indicate the need for Head Start and other early childhood programs to develop interventions designed to moderate the negative effect of homelessness on young children's social-emotional development.     

Changes in the Social Skills and Behavior Problems of Homeless and Housed Children During the Preschool Year

This study examined the social competence and mental health of homeless and permanently housed preschool children enrolled in the Head Start program. Mothers and Head Start teachers rated the social skills and behavior problems of 38 homeless and 46 housed preschoolers twice during the school year. The researchers compared the behavior of the homeless and housed preschoolers soon after they entered Head Start, as well as changes in children's behavior six months after their initial assessment. Both parents and teachers reported that homeless children exhibited more behavioral problems than housed children at the beginning of the study, but perceived no significant differences in the two groups' social skills. Mothers reported significant declines in homeless children's compliance relative to their housed peers at the conclusion of the study, while teachers noted significant declines in homeless children's compliance and expressive skills. Both mothers and teachers reported that homeless children exhibited significantly greater increases in behavior problems than their housed peers over the study period. Findings indicate the need for Head Start and other early childhood programs to develop interventions designed to moderate the negative effect of homelessness on young children's social-emotional development.     

Homeless women self-advocates: The quest from liminal to full citizenship

ABSTRACT

This essay explores how homeless women produce advocacy to gain full and substantive citizenship. Homeless women's attempts to gain recognition as full members of the society require them to transform lived experiences of trauma, exclusion, and loss into public arguments. Facing the intersection of civic exclusion by class and gender, homeless women are commonly viewed as welfare-dependent, irrational, and present-oriented, and are, therefore, considered the opposite of “good citizens.” Despite their legal citizenship, homeless women are essentially liminal citizens—their citizenship is lacking substantial political power and is thus barren. This essay explores how liminal citizens attempt to secure full citizenship by looking behind-the-scenes at their self-advocacy production process. Employing rhetorical field methods, the essay offers an interpretive reading of in-depth interviews with homeless women self-advocates and illuminates three aspects of the advocacy production process: recognizing the worth of the story; deciding to tell traumatic stories; and crafting the story. By unpacking the self-advocacy production process this essay animates the discussion about the mechanisms required to foster a deep and inclusive democracy from a rhetorical perspective.     

Homeless and Disabled: Rights, Responsibilities, and Recommendations for Serving Young Children with Special Needs

Homelessness is a growing social problem in the United States. Especially vulnerable to this phenomenon are young children because homelessness is viewed as a breeding ground for disabilities. Despite federal legislation ensuring educational opportunities, the educational needs of children who are homeless are frequently unfulfilled. This article reviews the educational rights of children who are homeless, including those with disabilities, and offers recommendations and suggestions as to how early childhood programs can help meet the needs of homeless young children with disabilities and their families.

The faces of dignity: Rethinking the politics of homelessness and poverty in America

The conditions of homelessness and poverty in America are being criminalized and pathologized such that people who are poor or homeless are marginalized and paternalized to the point of corrupting the possibility of human dignity. In a radical revision of accepted charity models for dealing with homelessness, a group of homeless people have established their own tent community based in the concepts of democracy, community, and care. At Dignity Village, human compassion and self-governance are guiding homeless people into better lives. These street people have recognized and directly address their responsibilities to develop and practice a liberating pedagogy. In partnership with the author in a project at Washington State University, Vancouver, Village residents are involved in learning about technology and are engaged in other literacy efforts, while also playing an active role as teacher educators, providing a curriculum for understanding the living situations of students who are poor or homeless.     

From the Parlor to the Barnyard: Obama and Holder on Race

This essay explores Barack Obama's “A More Perfect Union” speech and Eric Holder's speech marking African American History Month as a case study of contemporary public discourse on race. This article argues that in these speeches, Obama and Holder perform the social drama of race relations in profoundly different ways. Drawing on the Burkean parlor and barnyard as metaphors of rhetorical form, the analysis demonstrates the interplay of these dialogic and agonistic forms in motivating democratic deliberation on race. Implications of these rhetorical forms for healthy democratic practice are discussed.     

The Pedagogy and Politics of Art in Postmodernity: Cognitive Mapping and The Bothersome Man

This essay inquires into the pedagogical and political dimensions of art in the contemporary moment. Specifically, it seeks to reanimate Fredric Jameson's notion of “cognitive mapping,” which he introduced as a response to the postmodern problem of representing the social totality. To that end, the essay begins by explicating the twin impulses of cognitive mapping. It, then, undertakes a sustained rhetorical analysis of Jens Lien's award-winning 2006 Norwegian film, The Bothersome Man, demonstrating how the film employs entropic satire to, at once, map and critique the cultural logic of late capitalism. The essay concludes by reflecting on the important contributions rhetorical scholars can make to a renewed interest in cognitive mapping.     

Pentadic cartography: Mapping the universe of discourse

Expressions of time have increasingly infused the rhetorical experience of post-industrial war, especially since 9/11. This essay demonstrates how these “signs of time” operate as one of three tropes: deadline/countdown, infinite/infinitesimal war, and the ticking clock. The persistence of such signs of time in public discourse can be seen as an expression of what Paul Virilio has called the “chronopolis,” a political universe textured by real-time communication technologies. The chronopolitical will exhibits certain autocratic traits at odds with democratic ideals, primarily the refashioning of citizen identity into that of the “contemporary.” The analysis here charts the autocratic rhetoric of the chronopolis as a critical democratic project.     

Developmental Status and Social–Emotional Functioning of Young Children Experiencing Homelessness

The developmental status and social–emotional functioning of young children who are homeless has received inadequate attention in spite of high rates of homelessness among families with young children and the potentially negative impact of homelessness and associated stressors on children’s well-being. The aim of this study was to gain understanding of homeless children’s social–emotional adjustment and their functioning in language, motor, and cognitive skills. We also examined gender and age differences in those areas of development. The sample included 328 children residing with their parents in one of 11 emergency shelter or transitional housing programs for families who were experiencing homelessness in a central North Carolina county. Child case managers administered the Brigance Early Childhood Screen II and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socioemotional form in the shelter setting. Findings indicated variability in competence among the children, with some children performing above average on the developmental screening and demonstrating few social–emotional problems. However, developmental scores for overall functioning of the sample were significantly below the norming group, with particularly low functioning in language and communication skills. Parents of 24.8 % of the children had substantial concerns about their children’s mental health status. Although there are individual differences in adjustment of children experiencing homelessness, results support wide-scale screening and access to early intervention for these vulnerable children. Future investigations could be directed to identifying factors associated with resilience among children without homes.     

Relative contributions of parent substance use and childhood maltreatment to chronic homelessness,depression, and substance abuse problems among homeless women: mediating roles of self-esteem and abuse in adulthood

OBJECTIVE: This study, using latent variable methodology, explores simultaneously the relative effects of childhood abuse and early parental substance abuse on later chronic homelessness, depression, and substance abuse problems in a sample of homeless women. We also examine whether self-esteem and recent violence can serve as mediators between the childhood predictors and the dysfunctional outcomes.METHOD: The sample consists of 581 homeless women residing in shelters or sober living centers in Los Angeles (54% African-American, 23% Latina, 22% White, mean age=33.5 years). Multiple-indicator latent variables served as predictors and outcomes in structural models. Childhood abuse was indicated by sexual, physical, and verbal abuse.RESULTS: Childhood abuse directly predicted later physical abuse, chronic homelessness, depression, and less self-esteem. Parent substance use directly predicted later substance use problems among the women. Recent physical abuse predicted chronic homelessness, depression, and substance use problems. Greater self-esteem predicted less depression and fewer substance use problems. Childhood abuse also had significant indirect effects on depression, chronic homelessness, and drug and alcohol problems mediated through later physical abuse and self-esteem.CONCLUSIONS: Although there was a strong relationship between childhood abuse and parent drug use, childhood abuse was the more pervasive and devastating predictor of dysfunctional outcomes. Childhood abuse predicted a wider range of problems including lower self-esteem, more victimization, more depression, and chronic homelessness, and indirectly predicted drug and alcohol problems. The mediating roles of recent physical abuse and self-esteem suggest salient leverage points for change through empowerment training and self-esteem enhancement in homeless women.     

What Every Educator Needs to Know about America’s Homeless Students

The number of American homeless youth has skyrocketed in the twenty-first century. In 2015, for example, this number reached a record high, becoming twice as high as it was before the recession. Educators should be concerned about this problem because homelessness is more harmful to children than to adults and interferes dramatically with their education. This article offers guidelines for educators on how to deal with this problem effectively. It also includes an example of a policy that would reduce this problem in America.     

Wanted: A speech salesman for the United States government

This essay argues that the alleged demise of a unified and coherent public in contemporary twentieth‐century American political discourse is more a symptom of how we have visually objectified “the people” than it is a newly discovered fragmentation of the “thing” itself. This claim is developed by examining the emergence of social documentary photojournalism in the 1930s and its ideological implications for American liberal‐democratic rhetorical practices. James Agee and Walker Evans's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is treated as a representative anecdote that illustrates the problems and possibilities of the tensions between individualism and collectivism that rest at the heart of liberal democracy.     

A history in-care predicts unique characteristics in a homeless population with mental illness

Multiple studies of homeless persons report an increased prevalence of a history in-care, but there is a dearth of information on associated outcomes or relevant demographic profiles. This information is critical to understanding if certain individuals are at elevated risk or might benefit from specific intervention. Here, we investigate how a history in-care relates to demographics and multiple outcome measures in a homeless population with mental illness. Using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the Short-Form 12, and a trauma questionnaire, we investigated baseline differences in demographics and length of homelessness in the At Home/Chez Soi Trial (N = 504) Winnipeg homeless population with and without a history in-care. Approximately 50% of the homeless sample reported a history in-care. This group was significantly more likely to be young, female, married or cohabitating, of Aboriginal heritage, have less education, and have longer lifetime homelessness. Individuals of Aboriginal heritage with a history in-care were significantly more likely to report a familial history of residential school. Individuals with a history in-care experienced different prevalence rates of Axis 1 mental disorders. Those with a history in-care also reported significantly more traumatic events (particularly interpersonal). A distinctive high-risk profile emerged for individuals with a history in-care. Sociocultural factors of colonization and intergenerational transmission of trauma appear to be particularly relevant in the trajectories for individuals of Aboriginal heritage. Given the high prevalence of a history in-care, interventions and policy should reflect the specific vulnerability of this population, particularly in regards to trauma-informed services.