Best Practices in Early Care and Education for Young Children Experiencing Homelessness

In late 2016, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Education (ED) published a joint policy statement concerning the needs of young children experiencing and at risk of homelessness and their families. The statement summarizes the large and growing body of evidence quantifying the negative impacts homelessness and unstable housing have on young children’s development, and suggests potential strategies for better serving these children and their families.

 

Building on this and other recent work relating to young children experiencing homelessness, this report explores organizations’, municipalities’, and states’ practices and policies for addressing the educational and related needs of young children experiencing homelessness and their families. This paper also considers the scope of early childhood homelessness in Philadelphia, and the landscape of existing housing and educational services available to young children experiencing homelessness, with the goal of providing organizational leaders, advocates, and policymakers in Philadelphia and across the Commonwealth with new approaches to better serve the needs of some of our most disadvantaged children and their families.

 

To access the report, click here.