If possible, shelter staff should keep extra pencils, paper, and other school supplies so that homeless students are prepared for school and less differentiated from their housed peers who may have these supplies on a daily basis. In addition, shelter staff should be knowledgeable about the needs of homeless children and their developmental issues. Homeless parents can play a vital role in the education of their children. In addition, knowing their rights and the educational rights of their children is very important. To avoid enrollment delays at a new school, parents should keep a folder with all the child's school records including report cards, birth certificates, immunization records, test scores, and samples of schoolwork.
Homeless children are the fastest growing population of the homeless population.
Parents can be homeless due to a job loss, domestic violence, low wages, mental illness, substance abuse, or natural disaster, but children are homeless through no fault of their own. One way to stop homelessness is to provide homeless children with the same educational advantages as housed children and to instill in them the value of that education.