Abstract
Background: The experience of homelessness and child protection involvement pose risks to children's school success. Elucidating processes by which these interrelated systems affect child well-being is important for guiding policy and practice. Objective: This study examines the temporal relation between emergency shelter or transitional housing use and child protection involvement among school-aged children. We evaluated effects of both risk indicators on school attendance and school mobility. Participant and setting: Using integrated administrative data, we identified 3278 children (ages 4 to 15) whose families used emergency or transitional housing in Hennepin and Ramsey County of Minnesota during the 2014 and 2015 academic years. A propensity-score-matched comparison group of 2613 children who did not use emergency or transitional housing. Method: Through a series of logistic regressions and generalized estimating equations, we tested the temporal associations of emergency/transitional housing and child protection involvement as well as how both experiences affected school attendance and mobility. Results: Experiences of emergency or transitional housing often proceeded or occurred concurrently with child protection involvement and increased the likelihood of child protection services. Emergency or transitional housing and child protection involvement posed risks for lower school attendance and greater school mobility. Conclusions: A multisystem approach to assist families across social services may be important for stabilizing children's housing and bolstering their success at school. A two-generation approach focused on residential and school stability and enhancing family resources could boost adaptive success of family members across contexts.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105972 |
| Journal | Child Abuse and Neglect |
| Volume | 135 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank our community partners and the administrative data owners for all of their assistance in executing this study. We thank the Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership team, and the Minnesota Linking Information for Kids team for providing the structure for making this work possible. This research was financially supported by the University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Fellowship (ARP), the University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (ARP), the PEO Award (ARP), the Irving B. Harris Professorship in Child Development (ASM), and the Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership (through awards from the University of Minnesota Grand Challenges Research Initiative and the University Metropolitan Consortium). None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding Information:
We thank our community partners and the administrative data owners for all of their assistance in executing this study. We thank the Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership team, and the Minnesota Linking Information for Kids team for providing the structure for making this work possible. This research was financially supported by the University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Fellowship (ARP) , the University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (ARP) , the PEO Award (ARP) , the Irving B. Harris Professorship in Child Development (ASM) , and the Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership (through awards from the University of Minnesota Grand Challenges Research Initiative and the University Metropolitan Consortium). None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Child protection
- Family emergency shelters
- Family transitional housing
- School attendance
- School mobility
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
