Addressing the Childcare and Education Needs of Homeless Families

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Addressing the Childcare and Education Needs of
Homeless Families

• Kay Floyd, Director, Oklahoma Head Start State
  Collaboration Office
• Janet Coscarelli, Director, Tennessee Head Start
  State Collaboration Office
• Amy Davis, Homeless Coordinator, Oklahoma State
  Department of Education
• Beth Garriss Hardy, Director, Children, Families,
  and Communities, National Center for Homeless
  Education (Representing the U.S. Department of
  Education)
• Miami, Florida
• January 27-29, 2004

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Head Start Comprehensive Services

• Head Start/Early Head Start is a comprehensive
  child development program that includes
  cognitive, social, emotional, and physical
  development
• Serves income-eligible children from birth to age
  5, and pregnant women and their families

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Head Start Addresses Needs of Homeless Families

• 1993 Administration on Children, Youth and
  Families funded 16 demonstration projects for
  homeless children and families to
• Enhance access to Head Start Services
• Provide services for special needs of homeless
  families

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(Demonstration Projects continued)

• Identify effective methods of addressing needs
• Implement and document replicable strategies for
  collaboration between Head Start and other
  community agencies serving homeless families

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Access to Head Start Services

• Services made available to homeless families
  through local program priority selection process
  (eligible children are not automatically
  enrolled)
• Families are referred by other community agencies
  or identified at enrollment in HS
• Head Start programs have critical role to play in
  serving homeless families
• Head Start may be only program that focuses
  on children as well as parents

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Strategies That Have Worked

• ADMINISTRATION
• Renewed interest of federal agencies in impact of
  homelessness on families
• Local agency collaboration to provide services to
  homeless families
• Head Start services provided near subsidized
  housing
• Blended funding to provide services
• Homeless children top priority on Head Start
  waiting lists

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STAFF

• Establish consistent contracts with homeless
  shelters and schools
• Build professional relationships between and
  among Head Start and homeless Shelter staff and
  others working with homeless population
• Provide shared training opportunities
• Coordinate and implement prioritized services for
  children
• Assist in accessing social services such as
  health, food stamps, WIC, GED
• Establish mutual bond between families and staff
• Provide bilingual and housing staff services

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CHILDREN

• Provide regular and consistent management for
  children
• Provide immediate medical services
  examinations, immunizations, screenings.
• Provide appropriate early childhood program for
  school success
• Provide full-day, full-year Head Start and child
  care services
• Provide transportation, mental health services,
  clothing, food (at center or take home)

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PARENTS

• Involve parents in Head Start parent activities
  and education opportunities with transportation
  or at shelters
• Involve fathers in Head Start activities
• Obtain social services for parents as needed
• Ease parental anxiety through quality Head Start
  program for the child
• Provide employment and assistance
• Provide assistance for utilities and referral to
  housing agencies in community

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EXISTING BARRIERS

• ADMINISTRATION
• Lack of Head Start enrollment opportunities for
  homeless children
• Confusion between federal and state program
  eligibility criteria
• Inconsistencies in definition of homelessness
• Lack of outcome data due to absence and mobility
• Confusion in consistency of regulations between
  Head Start, Child Care and School Age in
  adult-child ratio

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STAFF

• Difficult to maintain communication with parents
  due to mobility
• Difficult to track childrens progress due to
  absence and mobility
• Difficult to maintain consistency in childs
  program due to parents inconsistency drug and
  alcohol abuse
• Lack of flexible, bilingual staff and lower
  staff-to-child ratio

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CHILDREN

• Limited enrollment opportunities into Head Start
• Extremely limited enrollment opportunities for
  infants and toddlers in Early Head Start

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PARENTS

• Inability to manage substance abuse
• Lack of transportation
• Distraction of chaotic life prevents parents from
  focusing on needs of children
• Scarcity of affordable housing and living wage
  jobs
• Dealing with domestic violence
• Inability to access full-day child care in order
  to work

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CHILD CARE SERVICES

• Homeless families treated same as all other
  applicants for child care subsidy must meet
  specific requirement(s)
• Child care subsidy based on need for child care
  (employment or education of parent)
• Can serve infants through age 12
• If job is lost while child is in child care,
• child may continue in subsidized child care for
  30 days during job search

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Barriers to Subsidized Child Care Services

• Job search is usually not approved reason for
  subsidized child care services
• Must be living in Oklahoma with intent to stay in
  state
• Limited access to child care for non-traditional
  hours or infants and toddlers
• Childs citizenship required, or meet certain
  alien requirements

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Public School Services

• McKinney-Vento Act requires each district to
  designate a homeless education liaison for
  children and youth
• Oklahoma has 541 school districts
• Liaison is responsible for enrolling child first,
  then collaborating with community agencies for
  required records
• Immunization records
• Documentation of residency

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(Public School Services Continued)

• Liaison assists families with accessing required
  records and/or services
• Liaisons assist families with finding housing,
  adult, and parenting education, health services,
  and many other services
• Districts will be required to track data on
  services and families served and report to state
  coordinator
• State coordinator provides technical assistance
  to liaisons

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Strategies that Work

• Providing resources to liaisons such as Toolkit
  for Local Liaisons from NCHE, and federal
  guidance for McKinney-Vento Act
• Data collection using demographic page on state
  tests
• Providing professional development for all
  district personnel
• Placing information about families rights in
  shelters, hospitals, health department

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(Strategies that Work Continued)

• Collaboration among schools, Head Start, Child
  care at State and local levels
• McKinney-Vento requires State coordinator to
  collaborate with other agencies providing
  services to homeless families with children
• Two of the eight Head Start Collaboration
  Project priority areas are
• Improving services to homeless children
• Improving availability, accessibility, and
  quality of childcare services and preschool
  services
• Transitioning process child care, Head Start, and
  public schools

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• TOGETHER, WE CAN ADDRESS THE CHILD CARE AND
  EDUCATION NEEDS OF HOMELESS CHILDREN AND FAMILIES!