The McKinney-Vento Act and Children and Youth ... - State of Michigan

• Immediate access to free school meals
• Academic support, such as tutoring and credit recovery programs
• Special education and related services, as needed
• Sensitive and respectful treatment by teachers, administrators, and
other school staff
Schools cannot provide these services if no one at the school knows a student
is in out-of-home care and eligible for the McKinney-Vento Act’s protections.
Unfortunately, all the homeless education liaisons interviewed described
being notified about youth in care as “hit or miss.” In their experience, many
youth were not receiving the full benefits of the McKinney-Vento Act simply
because the liaisons did not know about the youth.
In other cases, youth were forced to wait for the child welfare system to
provide services that are available immediately through the homeless liaison.
For example, many McKinney-Vento programs can provide school supplies
and clothing to eligible children immediately, while obtaining such services
through the child welfare system often forces youth to wait for days or weeks
for vouchers to be issued and approved and purchases to be made. Children
who receive McKinney-Vento services are also able to receive free school
meals immediately, rather than waiting for someone to complete and submit
an application.
For children in out-of-home care, the child welfare system, rather than
schools, is the primary agency designed to meet such basic needs as clothing
and school supplies. It is important to work with child welfare agencies in
reforming protocols so youth receive these items quickly. However, schools
can provide critical support to youth in care by providing these services on
an immediate, interim basis. Child welfare agencies could then replenish the
items supplied by McKinney-Vento programs, to ensure that schools have
adequate supplies for those students who are homeless and without an agency
responsible for their care.
“The problem is that you come into care with nothing, and clothing vouchers can take a
few weeks. We ended up wearing the same clothes for a few weeks.”
— Amanda Metivier 51
Additionally, one of the most important services that homeless liaisons
Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes through School Stability 45