Ronald E. Hallett: Educational Experiences of Hidden Homeless Teenagers: Living Doubled-Up

Abstract

In Educational Experience of Hidden Homeless Teenagers: Living Doubled-Up, Ronald Hallett examines how the educational experiences of a subgroup of homeless adolescents are affected by their living situations. Hallett focuses on a specific subgroup of homeless adolescents who are ‘‘sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason.’’ 42 U.S.C. § 11434(a) (also known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act). Hallett defines these adolescents as ‘‘living doubled-up.’’ While these adolescents and their families do not identify themselves as homeless, Congress has recognized that these individuals walk a fine line between homeless and housed. As Hallet (2012, p. 4) notes, adolescents ‘‘living doubled-up’’ represent 60 % of homeless youth. Hallett chose to study this group because it is the least studied group of homeless adolescents, this sort of living situation is often a precursor to other forms of residential instability and part of a cycle of homelessness, and this type of living situation is in a gray area between housed and homeless, which goes against the American Dream. An important distinction is made between a residence, i.e., an apartment or house, and a household, a family unit such as a mother and her children. Therefore, a doubled-up residence is made up of several households. Hallett reveals the tensions present between households sharing a residence and how this tension affects the educational experiences of four adolescents. In Chapter 1, Hallett discusses the federal law surrounding homeless students, explains the purpose of the study, and outlines the format for the rest of the book. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act frames how schools identify and serve homeless students and defines a homeless person as ‘‘an individual lacking a fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence.’’ Under this Act, individuals who live doubled-up with other households in order to avoid homelessness or an economic crisis are defined as homeless. Individuals who fall within this broad definition of homelessness have many different experiences and do not constitute one homogenous group. The purpose of this study is to learn about how adolescents living doubled-up and defined as homeless experience the educational system. The four adolescents who are the focus of this study are given voices through this book so that readers can understand that there are many differences within the category of households living doubled-up. Hallett focuses on the risk and protective factors present in the lives of these adolescents and how those factors impact the adolescents’ educational progress. Educational resilience, the focus of this book, is explained in Chapter 2: Resilience and Homeless Youth. Hallett explains that Resiliency Theory focuses on the study of protective factors that allow at-risk youth to obtain normal educational, psychological and social outcomes in spite of the risks these youth face. Risk factors are behaviors, conditions, or characteristics that have a negative impact on individuals, such as high mobility rates, residential instability, low-performing schools, low-income neighborhoods, and high levels of neighborhood violence and illegal activity. Instead of trying to determine the negative outcomes for at-risk youth, researchers using Resiliency Theory focus on the protective factors that help these youth overcome adversity. Protective factors can be a family or social network to fall back on, community support, or other factors that positively influence youth. A youth is labeled as resilient if he or she successfully adapts after facing adversity. Educational resilience, the focus of E. N. Johnson (&) Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA e-mail: eboen@indiana.edu