Table Of ContentSPRINGER BRIEFS IN PSYCHOLOGY
ADVANCES IN CHILD AND FAMILY POLICY AND PRACTICE
Mary E. Haskett Editor
Child and Family
Well-Being and
Homelessness
Integrating
Research into
Practice and Policy
SpringerBriefs in Psychology
Advances in Child and Family Policy and Practice
Editorinchief
BarbaraH.Fiese,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaign,Urbana,IL,USA
Moreinformationabout thisseries athttp://www.springer.com/series/10143
Mary E. Haskett
Editor
Child and Family
Well-Being
and Homelessness
Integrating Research into Practice
and Policy
Editor
MaryE.Haskett
DepartmentofPsychology
NorthCarolinaStateUniversity
Raleigh,NC,USA
ISSN2192-8363 ISSN2192-8371 (electronic)
SpringerBriefsinPsychology
ISBN978-3-319-50885-6 ISBN978-3-319-50886-3 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-50886-3
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Executive Summary: Enhancing Public
Policy to Promote Well-Being of Parents
and Children Experiencing Homelessness
This summary of policy recommendations focuses on three areas: (1) the integra-
tion of policies and practices for families experiencing homelessness; (2) the
promotionofhealthyfamilies;and(3)buildingtheevidencebasetoguideeffective
policy.Thisisnotanexhaustivelist;rather,theserecommendationsaredrawnfrom
resultsoftheinnovativestudiesinthismonographofAdvancesinChildandFamily
Policy and Practice. Broader policy recommendations are available from the
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the
National Alliance to End Homelessness, the Bassuk Center on Homeless and
Vulnerable Children & Youth, The U.S. DHHS Administration for Children and
Families (see especially the new Policy Statement on Meeting the Needs of
Families with Young Children Experiencing and At Risk of Homelessness), and
theU.S.InteragencyCouncilonHomelessness.
Integrate Policies and Practices
• Require and Support Coordinated Policies Across Sectors. Policies and
fundingsourcesmustbelinkedmorecloselyacrossagenciesthatservehomeless
children and families. To illustrate, the National Center on Early Head Start-
Child Care Partnerships (jointly funded by the Office of Head Start and the
Office ofChildCare)encouragesdevelopmentofformalpartnershipsbetween
EarlyHeadStartandchildcareprograms.Partnershipsshouldexpandtoinclude
McKinney-VentoCoordinatorsforEducationofHomelessChildrenandYouths,
IDEAPartC(EarlyIntervention)programs,andCCDFservices.Fundingshould
be allocated for technical assistance for implementing and sustaining the coor-
dinatedpolicies.
• Integrate Coordinated Cross-System Support Services with Housing
Support. Availability of affordable housing and sufficient federal and state
funding for housing vouchers for all eligible families are essential for ending
v
vi ExecutiveSummary
familyhomelessness,butthereisalsoacriticalroleforpsychosocialservicesin
stabilizationofvulnerablefamilies.TheBassukCenter’sServicesMatterreport
(www.bassukcenter.org)delineateseightessentialcomponentsofacomprehen-
sivetwo-generationalresponsetofamilyhomelessnessthatinvolvescoordinat-
ingdeliveryofservicestosupporttheentirefamily.
Promote Healthy Families
• MandateUseofTwo-GenerationalFamily-CenteredAssessmentProcesses.
Familieswithouthomesareaheterogeneousgroup,thoughtheysharecommon
risk factors. Given variability across families, a comprehensive screening and
assessment process is vital toidentifyneeds of all family members and reduce
wasteful“one-size-fits-all”approaches.
• Increase Access to Early Care and Education. Given the disproportionate
number of families with very young children who are homeless and the many
barriers faced by families seeking care for their children, there is a clear and
compelling need for increased access to high-quality early care and education
forthesefamilies.ProvisionsinthereauthorizedChildCareDevelopmentBlock
Grant(CCDBG)haveincorporatedMcKinney-Ventoconceptsintothepolicies
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Head Start.
Pending adequate funding, the CCDBG may provide additional resources to
homeless services providers to help their clients access early childhood
resources. Further, the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of
2007mandatedtheprioritizationofchildrenexperiencinghomelessness;unfor-
tunately, waitlists persist, so adequate appropriation of funds must follow
mandates.
• Prioritize Parenting Resources to Families Experiencing Homelessness.
Positive parenting promotes resilience of children who face the loss of their
home. Like all parents, those experiencing homelessness are eager to receive
parenting support. In the face of enormous stress and adversity, parents
experiencing homelessness require greater accesstoparentingsupport. Priori-
tizing families without homes for federally funded programs such as those
supported by the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting
(MIECHV) program, as well as Early Head Start and Head Start programs,
couldpromotepositiveparenting andreduce early social-emotional-behavioral
challengesofyounghomelesschildrenandpreventlatermentalhealthproblems.
ExecutiveSummary vii
Build the Evidence Base to Guide Effective Policy
• Improve Data Collection and Fund Research on Family Homelessness.
Effective policies to end family homelessness must be driven by high-quality
data. In the absence of consistent and comprehensive data, policies are ill
informedatbestorineffectiveatworst.Currently,theevidencebaseforeffec-
tivehousingandservicestoaddressfamilyhomelessnessisnotwelldeveloped.
Thepace ofknowledgedevelopment mustaccelerate at apace thatreflects the
rapidly growing number of homeless families and the complex nature of their
needs. Improved data collection on parent and child functioning and services
delivered by individual programs (IDEA Part C, CCDF, etc.) and through
HUD’s Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) would provide
criticalinformationtodevelopappropriatepolicyresponses.
• Shape Research Funding. In addition to enhancing existing data collection
systems, public and private research grants should be made available at higher
levels for investigations of family homelessness, specifically in the following
areas:
(a) Fund research to examine implementation and effects of evidence-based
programsdeliveredinhousingprogramstopromotepositiveparentingand
reduceriskforchildmaltreatmentandtotreatparentandchildmentalhealth
challenges. Studies should be funded at a level that will ensure they are
sufficientlypoweredtodeterminenotonlywhatworksbutalsoforwhomthe
interventionworks,underwhatconditionstheinterventioniseffective,and
whenandatwhatdosageitshouldbedelivered.
(b) Develop and replicate innovative systems changes, including models of
collaboration as recommended by experts and as described in this Brief.
Investigations are needed toidentify factors that (a) promote such collabo-
ration, (b) ensure consistency, fidelity, and sustainability of collaborative
models,and(c)facilitatecapacityforscalingthemodels.Therelativelynew
areaofimplementationsciencecaninformtheseinvestigations.
(c) Fundinvestigationsinresiliencesciencetogainagreaterunderstandingof
the sources ofresilience that enable some vulnerable children and families
withouthomestoadjustandeventhrive.Thesestudiesshouldbedesignedto
assess predictors of parent and child functioning over time, from the time
theyexperiencetheirfirstepisodeofhousinginstabilitythroughtheprocess
ofobtainingpermanentlivingsituations.
(d) Fund pilot programs to develop evidence-based methods to improve early
childhood outcomes for vulnerable young children who are homeless and
unstablyhoused.Earlychildhoodisacriticaldevelopmentalperiod;failure
to fully support the developmental needs of infants, toddlers, and pre-
schoolers without homes is unacceptable. For example, funding is needed
to ascertain effects on child outcomes of new tools such as the Early
ChildhoodSelf-AssessmentToolforEmergencySheltersdevelopedbythe
USDHHSAdministrationforChildrenandFamilies.
viii ExecutiveSummary
Conclusion
Family homelessness must be addressed by a comprehensive, integrated set of
policy and practice strategies and public and private funding for a purposeful
research agenda to build the evidence base. Family’s needs must be at the center
of decision-making and policy-building. Solutions are within reach, but greater
politicalandpubliccommitmentiscriticaltoreducehomelessnessandaidparents
withouthomesinadvancingtheirlivesandsupportingtheirchildren’sfutures.
Contents
1 UnderstandingandMeetingtheNeedsofFamilies
ExperiencingHomelessness:Introduction
totheBrief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MaryE.Haskett
2 MentalHealthandAdaptationofChildrenExperiencing
FamilyHomelessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
JanetteE.Herbers,J.J.Cutuli,LyuboslavaKolarova,
AmandaAlbu,andLaurenA.Sparks
3 ObservedParentinginFamiliesExposedtoHomelessness:
ChildandParentCharacteristicsasPredictorsofResponse
totheEarlyRisersIntervention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
KendalHoltrop,TimothyF.Piehler,AbigailH.Gewirtz,
andGeraldJ.August
4 AssessmentofFamiliesExperiencingHomelessness:
AnalysisofCurrentPractice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
CarmelaJ.DeCandia,EllenL.Bassuk,andMollyRichard
5 AccesstoEarlyChildhoodServicesforYoungChildren
ExperiencingHomelessness. . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. 65
StaciM.Perlman,SaraH.Shaw,CharlesH.Kieffer,
Grace-AnnC.Whitney,andCarieBires
6 InteragencyCollaborationtoPromoteMentalHealth
andDevelopmentofChildrenExperiencingHomelessness. . . . . . . . 83
MaryE.Haskett,JenniferTisdale,andAmyLeonardClay
ix
x Contents
7 ASafe,StablePlacetoCallHome:PolicyImplications
andNextStepstoAddressFamilyHomelessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
PrestonA.BritnerandAnneF.Farrell
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
