Saturday, May 26, 2012


Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development 

As a teacher, the most recent stressor that I have seen in our schools, affecting children’s development, is being homeless.  Due to the economy, unemployment rates have risen, and it has made it very difficult for many of our parents to find jobs.  Unfortunately, after losing their home and living with various relatives, these families become homeless.  The children are affected because they are constantly wondering and worrying where their next meal will be coming from, will they be moving again, and why should they make friends only to move away from them again.  In many cases, the tensions at “home” are high because the bills cannot be paid and the parents are worried about where they are going to have to move to next and how all of this impacts their family.   

I have had students in my classroom who have been identified homeless under the Homeless Education Act.  Developmentally, their size was smaller than their peers, whether this was due to lack of proper nutrition was never determined.  Academically, they were below grade-level in all areas. Behaviorally, at first, they were very aggressive and angry. However, once they realized that we were all here to help them and be their friends, they slowly warmed-up to us and began to trust the staff and students of our school.  The school, along with community assistance, was able to find them a home, provide them with food, clothing, and presents at Christmas.  

Because of this experience with teaching homeless children and seeing firsthand the impact that homelessness has on children’s physical, cognitive, and social development, I was curious to learn more about this stressor in my region of North Carolina.  I learned that, in the last 5 years, the number of homeless children in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has grown 218% (website Fox News Charlotte).  Over 4,700 homeless children ages 5 and up are in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (website Fox News Charlotte).    Various organizations are being formed to help children and families facing homelessness.  A non-profit organization, A Child’s Place, is trying to help homeless children in this region of North Carolina by making sure that these children have all the “tools” needed for school.  They ask people to donate money to purchase school supplies, but also want people to donate their time and services (website A Children’s Alliance).  They ask people to spend one hour a week with these children helping them in their schools (website Fox News Charlotte).  Based on data collected from the 2009-2010 school year, 93% of A Child’s Place client children were promoted to the next grade level and 93% were reading on grade level ( website A Children’s Alliance).  Nationally, the percentage of homeless children being promoted to the next grade level is 64% and reading on grade level is 48% (website A Children’s Alliance).  Hopefully, surrounding counties will be able to use resources, such as A Child’s Place, to help the homeless children in their school districts.





3 comments:

  1. Good post Dianne. It is always so interesting to me that a first world country like the USA is always in the news because it helps so many people and countries the world over. Yet there are people within its own borders with serious needs. I know that from a political point of view that it is important that the USA help wherever it can world wide to ensure support. I can see from your post that there are people and organizations trying to make a difference, trying to improve the lot of these children. My heart goes out to all and I hope that each community will develop a spirit or sense of a village, where everyone pitches in to ensure that things work for the betterment of the community. I hope that solutions to the world wide economic crisis will soon be found.

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  2. It's a tall order to ask a child to focus on academics when their basic needs are not being met. Having a place to live and feeling safe is essential to learning. It is good to see that organizations have stepped up to help those in need.

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  3. Wow Dianne, what an informative and helpful post. I do not have any homeless students in my classroom, that I am aware of. Some of the behavior you of your students make me wonder if some of my kids are in the same situation? You sound like a great teacher.

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