WHO ARE HOMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTH?

Children and youth that lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

This includes children and youth who:

• Share housing with other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason
• Live in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations
• Live in emergency or transitional shelters
• Are abandoned in hospitals
• Are awaiting foster care placement
• Have a primary nighttime residence that is not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
• Live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings
• Are migratory children living in the aforementioned circumstances
• Are unaccompanied youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian

Educational Rights of Homeless Children and Youth

• Go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there;
• Choose between the local school where they are living, the school they attended before they lost their housing, or the school where they last enrolled;
• Enroll in school without proof of residency, immunizations, school records, or other documents;
• Get transportation to school;
• Free lunch and the other school services they need;
• Be free from harassment and isolation; and
• Have disagreements with the school settled quickly.