Educating Homeless Kids

Nearly a quarter of homeless people are children.* Over a million children were homeless at the start of the 2010-2011 school year. And being homeless can make it tough to get an education. To address some of the problems, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (1987) set up the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program.

The ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty just published Educating Children Without Housing: A Primer on Legal Requirements and Implementation Strategies for Educators, Advocates and Policymakers (Gallagher Law Library Classified Stacks KF4217.H6 D84 2014). One of the coeditors is Casey Trupin, the Coordinating Attorney for the Children and Youth Project at Columbia Legal Services and also a lecturer in UW Law's Legislative Advocacy Clinic.

Casey Trupin

Here are some links if you want to learn more about these issues:

• U.S. Dep't of Education, National Center for Homeless Education
• National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
• Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Homeless Education
• Seattle Public Schools, Health & Safety—Homelessness
• Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness

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* See p. 1 of HUD's 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.