Any displaced child or youth who is living in a shelter, motel, inadequate trailer or house, is staying temporarily with relatives or friends due to economic hardship or loss of housing, or is living in any other homeless situation has educational rights under the McKinney-Vento Act.

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 of 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.

**Who Are Unaccompanied Homeless Youth?

An unaccompanied homeless youth is a youth who meets the definitions of unaccompanied youth and homeless included in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 USC §§11431-11435, 2001; hereafter referred to as The McKinney-Vento Act). The Act defines unaccompanied youth as, “a youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian” (42 USC §11434a(6), 2001). This means that the youth is not living with a parent or guardian, and includes youth who are residing with a caregiver who does not have legal guardianship and youth who are living on their own.

The McKinney-Vento Act defines homeless children or youth as, “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” and provides a list of examples of living arrangements that meet this definition (42 USC §11434a(2), 2001) (see sidebar on page 1 for the full definition of homeless).

To be eligible for services under the McKinney- Vento Act as an unaccompanied homeless youth, the student must lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and not be in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.