Homelessness

McKinney-Vento Information

The Mckinney-Vento Act provides protections to homeless children who are classified as individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. Examples of children who would fall under this definition include:

  • Children living in "motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations"

  • Children living in "cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations..."

  • Children living in "emergency or transitional shelters"

  • Children who are runaways or youth rendered homeless by their parents or abandoned in hospitals

  • Children whose nighttime residence is not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation (i.e. park benches)

  • Children sharing housing or "doubled up" (two or more families in the same household) due to economic hardship and loss of housing

  • Children "awaiting foster care placement"

If this is an issue you are currently facing, please let you counselor know by emailing them with your concerns. They have resources to help you under the McKinney-Vento Act., including

  • receiving a free, appropriate public education

  • enrolling in school immediately, even if lacking documents normally required for enrollment

  • enrolling in school and attending classes while the school gathers needed documents

  • enrolling in the local school; or continuing attending their school of origin (the school they attended when permanently housed or the school in which they were last enrolled), if that is their preference

  • if the school district believes that the school selected is not in their best interest, then the district must provide the student with a written explanation of its position and inform the student of their right to appeal its decision

  • receive transportation to and from the school of origin, if requested

  • receive educational services comparable to those provided to other students, according to the students’ needs