Public service systems need to do a better job of working with parents to support homeless children, a new study of families experiencing homelessness suggests.

The study also identifies key barriers limiting children’s access to support programs, such as unrealistic eligibility requirements and a failure to make parents aware of existing programs.

“There’s a lot of research out there on social and emotional interventions, and on early childhood education,” says Heather Finster, a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the study in the journal Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy.

“However, there is not a lot of research that looks at the accessibility of these programs for children experiencing homelessness—even though these children are at greater risk of social and emotional challenges. We wanted to get deeper understanding of these accessibility challenges by listening to the perspective of parents.”

For the study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 47 parents experiencing homelessness who had at least one child younger than 9 years old.

“Much of the work on families experiencing homelessness views parents from a deficit-focused perspective, which means that it focuses on where parents are lacking in supporting their children,” Finster says.

“However, this study underscores the importance of acknowledging all of the things that these parents are providing. They play an essential role in the development of their children’s emotional and social well-being, and help their children navigate challenges in accessing support systems. Based on first-hand research and clinical experience working in shelters, this is a critical finding that is worth highlighting.”

Read the full article about parents of homeless children by Matt Shipman at Futurity.