Understanding the ecology and development of children and families experiencing homelessness: Implications for practice, supportive services, and policy (original) (raw)

2012, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

The experience of homelessness can pervade multiple levels and facets of a child and family's world. In view of the historical risks in the lives of children who are experiencing homelessness (e.g., growing up under conditions of poverty, exposure to family violence), it is clear that interventions, services, and supports need to be equally comprehensive to have a positive influence on child functioning and development. Consequently, service systems, providers, and community supports need to address the circumstances of children and families experiencing homelessness and, more specifically, better attend to their ecologies and the diverse factors that can affect their well-being and adjustment trajectories. Such an approach is needed to better understand the range of factors and influences on the development and adaptation of these youngsters at home, at school, and with their peers as well as to guide the identification and implementation of adequate family-centered services and supports. F amilies represent roughly a third of the homeless population in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010), and approximately 1.5 million children-1 in 50 youngsters-are homeless each year in the United States (Bassuk, 2010; The National Center on Family Homelessness [NCFH], 2009). Such figures have catalyzed proposals to end child and family homelessness (Bassuk, 2010; Shinn, 2009) and heightened research and professional focus on factors that can mitigate the negative impact of homelessness on the children and youth, and their caregivers, within those families (e.g., Bassuk, 2010; Paquette & Bassuk, 2009; Swick, 2008). Families experiencing homelessness have often experienced a range of risks, adversities, and problems (e.g., poverty, domestic violence) that contribute to their homelessness (NCFH, 2011). Furthermore, living without stable housing (a traumatic experience in itself; see Bassuk, 2010 and Haber & Toro, 2004), a defining characteristic of their circumstance, places children and youth at additional risk for adversity exposure and difficulties in adjustment, including social and emotional problems, high risk behaviors, and problems in health and education (Bassuk, Weinreb, Dawson, Perloff, & Buckner, 1997; NCFH, 2011; Swick, 2005). Because of the complex causes, correlates, and consequences of homelessness in children and families, a comprehensive, multilevel framework is necessary to provide effective services and supports. Unfortunately, many interventions for children and families experiencing homelessness continue to focus on the child(ren) or their caregiver(s) alone, without addressing caregiver-child relationships, the resources or needs of the family system, or other relationships between families and their broader social contexts. Such practices do not fully meet the needs of children and families. A coordinated emphasis on ecologically grounded and developmentally based efforts is more likely to (a) address the diverse influences on the child and family and (b) minimize the degree to which services are fragmented. In this article, we advocate for service systems, providers, and community supports to address the circumstances of children and families experiencing homelessness and, more specifically, to better attend to their ecologies and the diverse factors that can affect their well-being. We do not comprehensively review the circumstances and issues facing children and families experiencing homelessness (for detailed discussions, see Bassuk, 2010; Haber & Toro, 2004) rather, our objective is to provide suffi-This article was prepared for and reviewed by the American Orthopsychiatric Association Task Force on Family Homelessness.