Homeless Education Program

CBSS Homeless Education Program

Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness have the Right

to a Free, Appropriate Public Education

The McKinney-Vento Act defines "homeless children and youth” as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The term
includes –

1. Children and youth who are:

   • sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as doubled-up);

   • living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations;

   • living in emergency or transitional shelters;

   • abandoned in hospitals; or

   • awaiting foster care placement;

2. Children and youth who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

3. Children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

4. Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.

5. Under the McKinney-Vento Act children and youth living in homeless situations have the right to:

   • Immediately enroll in school

   • Remain in the school of origin

   • Receive transportation to and from the school of origin

   • Have access to the same services offered to other children and youth

Helpful Websites:
Louisiana State Department of Education
http://www.louisianaschools.net/

National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY)
http://www.naehcy.org/

National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)
www.serve.org/nche

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP)
http://www.nlchp.org/