Homelessness and child protection involvement: Temporal links and risks to student attendance and school mobility

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.