Homeless adolescents face multiple barriers. Homeless adolescents often report initially leaving home due to family conflict or some form of abuse in their homes. Their trajectory into homelessness results in experiencing high levels of stress that predisposes them to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviors, and other mental health and behavior challenges. These young adults are exposed to a wide variety of traumatizing events and many forms of exploitation while on the street. (Thompson, 2016) In comparison to housed adolescents, they experience high rates of sexual assault, robbery, physical violence, and assault with a weapon, which results in decreased life expectancy. The longer they remain on the street, the more likely they are to experience trauma and the resulting damaging effects.
In 2014, there were 1.2 million homeless students that was enrolled in public schools according to the U.S. Department of Education. Therefore, about 2% to 3% of the 50.1 million students that attend kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools in the United States are homeless. (Sulkowski, 2016) However, other estimates suggest that as many as 2 million U.S. students experience homelessness each year, which suggests that this percentage might be even higher. Moreover, rates of student homelessness have increased 72% since the beginning of the 2008 economic recession. These rates have also increased approximately 10% since the beginning of the 2011 to 2012 school year. (Sulkowski, 2016) Therefore, rates of student homelessness are an unprecedented, pervasive, and growing problem in the United States.
Concept
Resilience can be best explained by being a balance between risks and protective factors. As long as there is a manageable balance of both, people can usually cope. However, for some adolescents, especially those experiencing homelessness, the risks can be overwhelming and the protective factors can be few and far between. (The Research on Resilience, 2013) Although a supportive school environment has a positive effect on all children, it has an even greater effect on children who’ve been exposed to higher levels of risk. Quality relationships are a major part of resilience. Although building relationships may require some time, brief continued encounters can provide the basis for supportive relationships. Youth who have strong connections in their lives do better in school.
Homeless adolescents show less academic resilience than younger students do when homeless. Students who are homeless for extended periods are most likely to experience social isolation, rejection, and withdrawal. Mentors to homeless students must understand the needs of at-risk youth and know what the most appropriate supports are. If they lack this knowledge, the relationship risks being short-term, which can only exacerbates the insecurity these students feel. (The Research on Resilience, 2013) Additionally, school districts typically do not measure factors with the greatest potential for positive influence on academic resilience in disadvantaged students.
Resilience can be defined as the capacity of individuals to cope successfully with significant change, adversity or risk; that capacity changes over time and is enhanced by protective factors within the person and the environment. Others defined resilience as social and psychological competence characterized by equanimity, perseverance, meaningfulness, existential aloneness, and self-reliance. (Rew, 2001)
As stated before as long as the balance between risks, stressful life events, and protective factors is manageable, people are able to adapt and cope adequately. For homeless youth, resilience can be an important moderating process at times of stress such as acute illness, victimization, lack of housing and food, or loss of family or friends. For homeless youth, resilience may result from developing self-reliance and independence instead of accessing social resources through interdependence with others. Resilience is a protective factor which facilitates growth and development, and a more an adaptive strategy or defense against the feelings of disconnectedness, loneliness, and hopelessness. (Rew, 2001)
Historical Overview
In 1974, Congress enacted the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act and also established the Runaway and Homeless Youth program, due to the rising number of homeless Americans. Since the 1980s, the number of homeless Americans significantly increased. (Abdul, 2015) In response to the rising number of homeless youth, the federal government enacted The Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011 and the McKinney Vento Homeless Act of 1978, the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to ensure homeless youth coverage until the age of 21.
Additionally, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH) revised the age of homeless youth to 21 and redefined school and supportive services available to homeless youth. The HEARTH Act offered federal guidelines to ensure that homeless youth have access to school and shelter programs administered by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and HUD programs until age 21. (Abdul, 2015)
Resilience came from several theories and practice models. The Stone Center’s model of self in relation and mutuality has incorporated many of the principles of resilience. Mutuality is defined as a combination of empathy, authenticity, and responsiveness to, and understanding of, the other person. (Turner, 2001) This therapeutic model states that an individual’s primary experience of themselves is in relation to others and being able to sustain an ongoing relationship with a positive adult is one of the most important characteristics of a resilient person.
Many of the principles of resilience was also incorporated into the social work practice model of the strengths perspective. The strengths perspective is a practice model that, rather than focusing on problems, looks for the strengths and possibilities in clients. (Turner, 2001) Clinicians working from a strengths perspective focus on what is working well in clients’ lives and then help expand and enhance the coping strategies they already have. Ideas of empowerment, healing, community, and membership are central to the strengths perspective, as well as the belief that trauma can be a source of challenge and opportunity. Resilience is a concept that epitomizes and operationalize the strengths perspective.
Gilligan believes that therapists are in a good position to strengthen healthy resistance and courage. (Turner, 2001) Gilligan advises therapists to help individuals achieve healthy resistance to disconnection from themselves which should lead to wanting and having honest relationships.
First, people need to be encouraged to acknowledge and talk about their pain. Clinicians need to affirm their clients’ pain. Second, clients need to discover and describe their assets and resilient traits. Sometimes clients need coaching to do this. The third step is to support clients in naming and feeling entitled to their hopes and what they want their lives to be like in terms of work, relationships, and community involvement. (Turner, 2001)
The therapist’s work is to help clients match their abilities and strengths with their external and internal resources. Throughout the process, therapists who are able to form relationships of confidence with their clients in which there is mutual trust in the empathic response of the other and commitment to one another and to the relationship to help build resilience. Therapists who are able to foster mutuality in the therapeutic relationship by being able to admit mistakes, not be defensive, and analyze the relationship when needed to foster resilience and a feeling of connection in their clients. (Turner, 2001)
Adolescents are more resilient when they live in safe and stable environments; have strong connections to families, schools, and communities; and are able to develop age-appropriate cognitive and social skills. Early exposure to multiple risk factors increases the likelihood of adverse effects on healthy development; and the negative impact increases over time. Therefore, it is important to promote resilience in adolescents as early as possible by utilizing the most effective interventions within the context of the adolescents, family, school, and broader community. (Moore, 2013) Gaining a better understanding of ways to increase resilience in homeless children and youth holds great promise for improving the effectiveness of preventive community, school, and family services. Although some approaches have been shown to be more effective than others, currently no consensus exists regarding what an ideal practice to promote resilience in youth would look like.
Moreover, research on human development in homeless youth populations is limited and has tended to focus on risks and deficits rather than resilience. However recently, a few studies have considered how youth living in such circumstances develop positive attributes such as resourcefulness. (Nott, 2016) There is not enough research exists on the identity development of homeless youth apart from their identities linked to their homeless status. Also, helping youth understand how to use their existing assets across multiple contexts can help them navigate the complexities of the teenage years. Making institutions (schools, etc.) aware of the unique strengths homeless youth, and previously homeless youth, possess may help lessen the social stigma homeless adolescents face.
Recent research identified some barriers in school-based service delivery for homeless students as: addressing record-sharing problems, issues related to obtaining consent for services, limitations in the scope of practice of homeless liaisons, inappropriate use of exclusionary evaluation criteria, and the misapplication of multitiered systems of support (MTSS) principles. Some ways to overcome some barriers can happen, if school social workers were knowledgeable of key pieces of legislation that aim to reduce barriers to educational access, they can also become stakeholders in efforts to support homeless students. (Sulkowski, 2016)
School social work could work with homeless liaisons to identify homeless students and coordinate services needed for those students. Homeless liaisons may lack training in understanding assessment practices, developmental psychology, and ecological systems. (Sulkowski, 2016) Although school social work usually do not receive training in identifying and screening for students who are homeless, they receive training in assessments, consultation, and data-based decision making more generally. So it would best if both parties could work together to help the common problem.
The most relevant piece of legislation that has been passed to this date is The McKinney-Vento Act. The McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Assistance Act overall goal is to ensure that homeless K-12 students have equal access to free and appropriate public education. School social work can help with assessing knowledge of the McK-VA among school staff as well as compliance with the law.
The first step toward helping homeless students involves understanding the challenges they face. School social workers who received training in developmental psychology, assessments, school and community consultation, and providing evidence-based interventions can lead other members of school communities to understand and prioritize the needs of homeless students. (Sulkowski, 2016) Additionally, school social workers are often the most knowledgeable professionals in schools about relevant laws that influence schooling, educational service delivery, and the provision of mental health supports. Unfortunately, school social work knowledge of the McK-VA may be limited.
Beyond expanding the McKinney Vento liaison roles, another suggestion to better help homeless youth is expand the importance of building collaborative relationships directly between school staff (principals, vice principals, deans, etc.), families, and community service providers. (Stone, 2016) Expanding school staff competence in making collaborative relationships can be challenging, because it involves forming trusting relationships with students and parents (caregivers) who may be reluctant to tell their housing status. Additionally, expand on evidence-based attendance interventions such as Check and Connect, which emphasizes the relationship building of students and parents and monitoring identified students. (Stone, 2016)
In the future, access to, and use of, community supports should be examined as potential protective factors and included in literature. The school should also prioritize the mental health and developmental needs of children experiencing homelessness by collaborating with mental health and early education professionals. Although research identified competence among many children residing in shelters, these children represent a vulnerable population as well at an elevated risk for developmental delays such as mental health challenges. So we need early screening, rather than a wait and see approach. (Haskett, 2016)
Discussion
Despite being a growing problem, student homelessness has not been prioritized in the school social work literature or in practice-related guidelines. School social workers frequently support other populations of at-risk and marginalized students. However, school workers are increasingly being compelled to adopt a social justice perspective and support the provision of education and mental health supports to all students. (Sulkowski, 2016)
School social workers need to become more active with efforts to support homeless students. More specifically, ways to reduce barriers to educational access, mitigate risk factors, support resilience, and improve training and education on student homelessness are covered. As the role of the school social worker continues to evolve, it is anticipated that the profession of school social work will continue to aspire toward engaging and supporting all students, especially those who are most at risk and vulnerable. (Sulkowski, 2016)
As the homeless student population rises, the response to their needs continue to challenge school and state educational systems. However, federal initiatives are critical, and their aim to address the needs of the growing number of homeless students remains of value to this vulnerable population. These federal programs play a vital role in expressing the U.S. resolve to provide homeless students with services and supports to address their unique educational, social, and economic conditions. (Adbul, 2015)
Services to homeless youth would likely be more effective if providers built upon the resilience and strength of these adolescents, while incorporating positive peer support, therapeutic rapport, and the development of healthy coping strategies. Initiating encounters early in the adolescent’s homeless trajectory, before they have been on the street for a long period of time and experienced high levels of psychological distress is necessary. (Thompson, 2016)