The National Center on Family Homelessness ranks Texas at the bottom of the pack - 50th in how homeless children fare. Of the 2,129,000 children living in poverty in Texas, four out of every 25 are homeless.
A homeless child is not necessarily living on the street - it can be a child who is temporarily living in a shelter or with friends or relatives.
The information used in the study is from 2005-06 and there is the possibility the numbers are skewed because of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita during that period, the report states. Also, it doesn’t represent what might be occurring with the homeless population nationally or statewide because of the downturn in the economy.
During the 2007-08 school year, Belton school district served 238 homeless children. To date, Belton has identified 230 homeless children for the current school year.
“Some of the students have moved on and some are here because of hurricanes Ike and Gustav,” said Jill Ross, director of federal programs and district homeless liaison for Belton school district.
Ross said the schools typically find out about the students through referrals from the Communities in Schools program, school counselors and registrars, but the district also checks on families if there has been a house fire or there is word of a home foreclosure.
“There have only been a handful of students affected by foreclosures, but we decided to begin tracking them ourselves at the end of November,” she said.
A child classified as homeless automatically becomes eligible for the free breakfast and lunch program, Ross said.
“We team with other community organizations, like Kiwanis and Altrusa, who will help out by bringing in linens and hygiene items the school district can’t purchase, but we can use to serve the students,” she said.
The Belton school district has a grant - Project Heartbeat - that provides for a case manager who can assist in classifying the students, Ross said.
In Temple, the maximum number of homeless children served by the school district this school year was 148, according to Dr. Robin Battershell, Temple school district superintendent. Sixteen of those students had been displaced by Hurricane Ike.
The number of homeless in the Temple school district now is 101, with one student attending a Temple school because of the hurricane, Battershell said. Of those children, 11 attend high school, with the remainder dispersed throughout elementary and middle schools.
The Killeen school district has 386 students who have been identified as homeless by Public Education Information Management System guidelines, said Leslie Gilmore, public affairs officer with the Killeen school district.
Ed Knight, president of Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services, said he wasn’t aware of a noticeable increase in referrals of homeless children and families.
Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services has a presence in Temple, with a representative at First Presbyterian Church who works with children and families.
Knight said the program has similar offices in 19 locations statewide and its purpose is to work with families in crisis, which could be a homeless issue.
“Our social worker will go into the home, or helps the family get a home, if that’s needed,” Knight said. “They develop a treatment plan with the family to deal with what is creating the crisis.”
Knight said they have found whenever Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services opens a new office, people will somehow find them, with schools providing the largest number of referrals.
“It’s sort of like if you build it they will come,” he said.
