Homeless Resources

Students/Families Facing Homelessness

The Fannett-Metal School District’s policy for homeless students/families and the McKinney-Vento Act states that child welfare and local education agencies must work together so that children can have school stability and continuity, including trying to ensure children remain in their home school whenever possible. Resources will be provided by the district’s Homeless Liaison for students currently enrolled or upon enrollment in the Fannett-Metal School District, who are identified as homeless.

The Liaison may assist families with the following:

*Enrolling students in school immediately, even if they do not have the papers they would normally need.

*Assisting families to understand and determine their right to educational placement decisions via a best interest determination, procedural safeguards, and/or a dispute resolution process.

*Helping families and youth get immunizations, immunization records or other medical records, if a student needs them.

*Assisting parents and youth setting up transportation.

*Making sure students get all the school services they need.

*Linking parents and guardians with programs and services the school and community offer.

Who is Homeless or Displaced?

In 1987, Congress passed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Subtitle B of Title VII of this Act entitled, Education for Homeless Children and Youth, was amended in 2001 as part of No Child Left Behind, Title X, Part C and was amended again in December 2015 for the Every Student Succeeds Act. Under the amendments (Sec. 725), the phrase “homeless children and youths” means individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.

The Basic Education Circular: Education for Homeless Youth 42 U.S.C. 11431 dated 2016, explains the categories of children who are “homeless” and entitled to protections of the federal law. These categories include children and youths who are:

*Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason.

*Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to alternative adequate accommodations.

*Living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals.

*Individuals and/or families living with relatives or friends due to loss of housing

*Primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used for regular sleeping accommodations for human beings such as living in a vehicle, park, public space, or an abandoned building.

*Living in substandard housing.

*Migratory children who qualify as homeless.

*“Unaccompanied homeless youth” including any child who is “not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian” (42 U.S.C. 1143a (6)). This includes youth who have run away from home, been thrown out of their home, been abandoned by parents or guardians, or separated from their parent for any reason.

Helpful Resources:

*Fannett-Metal School District:

Homeless Liaison, Mrs. Coral McMath

Phone: 717-349-3006

Email: mcmathc@fmtigers.org

*For local food pantry hours please check out Valley Ministries, Inc. Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyMinistriesInc/

*Franklin County Human Services Directory:

http://franklincountypa.gov/ckeditorfiles/files/Info_referral/2016-06%20Human%20Services%20Directory.pdf

*Community Services Link:

https://pa211.communityos.org/cms/

*Region 3 Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH):