No Place like Home

        Homeless affects 1.4 to 1.5 million children out of 3.5 million people that are homeless (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2009). Children need to feel secure, safe and loved. They need a place to call home. Unfortunately for some children, life happens in the midst of their security and the very thing that makes them feel safe is snatched away from them for different reasons. Homeless affects so many facets of a child’s live constraining their psychological, emotional, social, and behavioral development. It can also affect their academic development, which is deteriorated by poor cognitive development and the circumstances of being homeless.  It is not surprising that emotional distresses come into to play.

          As educators we must create an environment that is warm and welcoming to the point that it gives the child some sense of hope that there is a brighter tomorrow.  We give the child the support he or she needs by aligning them with the school counselor so that she may delve deeper into what the child is experiencing in class daily.

          In my experience of working with children- who are homeless, in most cases those students preserve if they have a great support system in place. Also if the child feels that he or she is just as important as anybody else- they will be successful.

Joy Overflowing,

April

References:

National Center on Family Homelessness. (2009). America’s youngest outcast: State report card on child homelessness. Retrieved from www.homelesschildrenamerica.org.