Education and Parent Support for Families Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity

Families can apply for assistance with paying for child care. This can enable parents to maintain stable employment or enroll in school.

As COVID-19 disrupts education, services and life across the country, children and youth experiencing homelessness are exceptionally vulnerable. This page offers resources to help meet their needs as we respond to this global crisis.

This link to the IDHS website describes various types of developmental screenings for children in Illinois and provides links to the agencies who provide these services.

This issue brief addresses the requirements of early childhood programs in meeting the needs of children and families who are homeless.

This page provides information and links to resources regarding homelessness in early childhood.

This early intervention office locator allows you to search by your Illinois county to find your local Child and Family Connections office.

This website describes a program that supports an office for coordination of the education of homeless children and youths in each state, which gathers comprehensive information about homeless children and youths and the impediments they must overcome to regularly attend school.

This is a statewide quality rating and improvement system designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning and development providers. The program establishes standards for helping infants, toddlers, and preschool -age children develop intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally. It provides a framework for early learning and development professionals to identify opportunities for improvement, increase their skills, and take steps to make positive changes. ExceleRate Illinois is administered through the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA) under the joint direction of the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Illinois State Board of Education.

Agencies within the Office of the Administration for Children and Families have outlined resources to support early childhood programs on providing services for young children and their families who are experiencing homelessness. These resources include policies and guidance, resource guides, and national organizations addressing homelessness.

This webpage from iGrow Illinois provides a searchable list and interactive map to help families find homevisiting programs.

This page includes information on making a referral to a local Child & Family Connections office (CFC) for an evaluation. All CFC offices have a parent liaison on staff to provide consultation to EI teams and families. Parent liaisons are parents or guardians of a child with special needs.

This agency leads the state’s initiatives to create an integrated system of quality, early learning and development programs to help give all Illinois children a strong educational foundation before they begin kindergarten. Resources and information for families and child care providers is provided.

Head Start is a comprehensive child development program and offers preschool, child care, and home visiting services in a variety of formats. Find local Head Start and Early Head Start Programs using this online program locator.

This video campaign challenges Head Start programs to enroll more children and families experiencing homelessness. Use the featured resources to educate staff and reduce the stigma around homelessness.

This page provides a listing of state coordinators for the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness from the National Center for Homeless Education at SERVE.

This toolkit is a comprehensive resource that will assist both new and veteran local liaisons in carrying out their responsibilities. Updated to reflect the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the 2020 edition of the Homeless Liaison Toolkit includes requirements of the law, good practices, sample forms, and links to resources.

This site provides videos, articles, workshops, and printable coloring sheets and handouts for families and providers on the impact of homelessness.

This checklist offers some strategies to promote robust identification of students experiencing homelessness during COVID-19.

The provides a collection of services for families of children from birth to age 3 who have disabilities or developmental delays or who are at risk of having developmental delays. Links to a form to request materials from the lending library is provided.

Families may wonder what will happen during a home visit. This webpage helps families understand the benefits of participating in a home visiting program.

The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA) is a statewide organization which is a resource for making high quality, affordable early care and education and school-age care options available for children and families in Illinois.

This map can help help individuals locate the regional homeless education liaison their your area.

This form is used to refer enrolled students to the homeless education liaison.

This page provides links to information on homelessness, including current issues, funding, legislation and policy, reports and statistics, school and homeless liaisons, forms and resources.

LEAs in Illinois use this form to enroll homeless children and youth, which asks families to list younger children living in the home.

This toolbox is designed to help school districts implement the McKinney-Vento Act fully so they can address the needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness on a daily basis and in times of disaster. The toolbox contains information and practical lessons learned and resources developed during the recovery process following the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes.

This site is dedicated to educational equity and excellence for children and youth experiencing homelessness. Information, resources and education is provided.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. NAEYC advances a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and supports all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children. The association comprises nearly 60,000 individual members of the early childhood community and 52 Affiliates, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning. Together, they work to achieve a collective vision: that all young children thrive and learn in a society dedicated to ensuring they reach their full potential.

The center supports the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

This page provides information and links for specific requirements of implementing the Preschool for All grant.

This website offers clarity on four aspects of student enrollment: residency, immigrant pupils, homeless pupils and schools fees and waivers.

This page has resources for state coordinators and local liaisons, and issue briefs related to best practices as well as connecting with parents.

This interactive learning series is intended for professionals in early childhood and school-age child care settings, CCDF Lead Agency or designated entity staff, and other key stakeholders. Learn how to identify families experiencing homelessness, conduct community outreach, and much more.

This guide is intended to assist states in utilizing their CCDF state plan (“CCDF Plan”) as a vehicle for improving access to high-quality early care and education for children who experience homelessness. The guide provides background information on child and family homelessness, including common barriers and challenges and best practices for serving homeless families; a summary of requirements of the CCDBG Act related to homelessness; and a summary of some of the opportunities available through the state CCDF Plan to improve access.

This webinar from the IEL Project and the Early Intervention Training Program presents an overview of the challenges of homelessness in the lives of families with young children, as well as strategies for supporting families to achieve stability.

 This document provides answers to frequently asked questions on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the education rights of children and youth in homeless situations, based on the amendments made by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

This page includes guidance on residency, school fee waivers, discipline, uniforms and immigrant students’ rights.

This flowchart is meant to aid in making decisions about a student’s eligibility as homeless under the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act.