Departments & Services

Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness have the Right to a Free, Appropriate Public Education.

The McKinney-Vento Act defines "homeless children and youth” as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The term
includes –

1. Children and youth who are:
   • sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as doubled-up);
   • living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
   • living in emergency or transitional shelters;
   • abandoned in hospitals; or
   • awaiting foster care placement;
2. Children and youth who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
3. Children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
4. Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.
5. Under the McKinney-Vento Act children and youth living in homeless situations have the right to:
   • Immediately enroll in school
   • Remain in the school of origin
   • Receive transportation to and from the school of origin
   • Have access to the same services offered to other children and youth

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