Meeting the Educational Needs of Students Displaced by Disasters: Youth on Their Own. Connecting Schools and Displaced Students Brief Series

National Center for Homeless Education. 5900 Summit Avenue #201, Brown's Summit, NC 27214. Tel: 800-308-2145; Fax: 336-315-7457; e-mail: homeless@serve.org; Web site: https://nche.ed.gov/

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Department of Education (ED)

Educational Needs; Natural Disasters; Homeless People; Federal Legislation; School Districts; Youth; Emergency Programs; Student Needs; Barriers; Children

For youth separated from their parents or guardians because of a disaster, school provides a stable and secure environment, offering structure and supports to help them overcome the trauma they have experienced and regain their academic, social, and emotional footing. Therefore, schools and school districts or local educational agencies (LEAs) and relief or service agencies in a community impacted by a disaster should work together to ensure that unaccompanied youth, including those experiencing homelessness as the result of a disaster, are identified, linked to services, and enrolled in school. This brief: (1) describes the challenges faced by youth on their own who have become homeless due to a disaster; (2) explains basic provisions of the McKinney-Vento Act relevant to serving unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness; and (3) provides strategies for local educational agencies (LEAs) and relief agencies to put into place to serve unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness before and after a disaster occurs.

ERIC

2023

ED628110