The National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) operates the U.S. Department of Education's technical assistance and information center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program. NCHE is based at The SERVE Center at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). NCHE hosts this Homeless Education Mailing List to share information and resources with educators, service providers, and other interested stakeholders about meeting the educational needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The ideas on this listserv do not necessarily reflect the views of NCHE, The SERVE Center, UNCG, or the U.S. Department of Education. ALL LOBBYING ACTIVITIES ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
New HHS Research Brief:
Well-being of Young Children after Experiencing Homelessness
|
|
|
Good morning colleagues:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a new research brief entitled
Well-being of Young Children after Experiencing Homelessness.
About the Brief
Using data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s
Family Options Study, the brief examines the well-being of young children 20 months after staying in emergency homeless shelters with their families. It draws comparisons between children who experienced homelessness and national norms for children of the same age. The brief also examines housing instability, child care instability, and enrollment in center-based care and Head Start, and associations between housing and child care stability and child well-being.
Summary of Findings
The brief finds that twenty months after staying in an emergency shelter with their families, young children scored worse in pre-reading skills and had higher rates of overall behavior problems and early development delays compared to national norms for children their age. However, they displayed only small disadvantages in pre-math skills, and for some types of behavioral challenges their rates were similar to national norms. Unstable housing arrangements remained common during the 20 months following a stay in emergency shelter, with children who had more stable recent living situations and more stable child care arrangements displaying fewer behavior problems 20 months after a shelter stay than those who did not. In addition, enrollment in early education and center-based care was lower for families who had experienced housing instability in the past six months compared to those who had been stably re-housed. However, housing instability did not appear to be associated with lower enrollment in Head Start programs. Moreover, children ages three and four who were enrolled in Head Start or other early education and center-based care displayed stronger pre-math and pre-reading skills than those who were only in parental care.
Download the Brief
Well-being of Young Children after Experiencing Homelessness, along with two other research briefs that are part of the same series, are available for downloading at
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/homeless-families-research-briefs.
Best,
Christina Dukes, Federal Liaison
National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)
|
|
|
| |
|
National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) | http://nche.ed.gov
Operating the U.S. Department of Education's technical assistance center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
