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What is Homelessness according to the McKinney-Vento Act?
- Lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence
Homelessness may look like...
- Living in shelters or transitional housing
- Living in cars, parks, or substandard housing
- Sharing the housing of others due to loss or economic hardship (Doubled-up)
- Living in hotels, motels, or campgrounds
- Migrant youth who are living in the above situations
What might cause a child to become homeless?
- Job loss
- Loss of income
- Domestive violence
- Fire, flood, natural disaster, etc.
- Eviction
- Child abandonment
- Incarceration of parent/guardian
- Divorce
- Death of Parent
- Parent's deportation
Unaccompanied Youth
An Unaccompanied Youth is not in the physical custody of a parent/guardian. An Unaccompanied Youth does not have a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence.
Possible causes of a child becoming an Unaccompanied Youth:
- Family Dysfunction
- Negelct
- Abuse
- Parental Incarceration
- Parental Illness
- Parental Deportation
- Death of a parent
- Loss of Foster Care
- Abandonment
- Separation from family due to family homelessness
Signs of Homelessness
- Chronic absenteeism
- Sleeping in class
- Inappropriate dress for the weather
- Hunger or hoarding food
- Unmet medical or dental needs
- Attention-seeking behaviors
- Overly "clingy"
- Fear of abandonmenet
- Difficulty socializing with peers
- Missing class for a long period of time
