Child Homelessness Research Articles

The Two Sides of Besprizornost’: Representations of Child Homelessness in Respublika SHKID and Pedagogicheskaia Poema

This article examines how the discourse about the re-education of besprizorniki , street urchins, became closely interconnected with the debate around the concept of the New Soviet Man in the 1920s and 1930s. This made child homelessness the ideal field in which to test different pedagogical approaches and the power of either the individual or the collective in the process of reforging human souls. By comparing two prototypical novels on besprizornost’ , Respublika SHKID ( The Republic of SHKID , 1926) and Pedagogicheskaia poema ( Pedagogical Poem , 1933–35), this article analyzes how the discourse on children’s re-education and conversion was portrayed differently in literature, reflecting the changes in Soviet society under Stalin and in the approach to street urchins and children in this period.

HISTORICAL PREREQUISITES, LEGAL STATUS AND PECULIARITIES OF ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN’S COLONIES FOR MINORS IN THE USSR

The article reveals the historical preconditions for the creation and development of children’s colonies for minors in the USSR, their place in the process of combating child homelessness and neglect. Since the establishment of children’s colonies in 1918, their main task has been to organize the educational process for minors, although in practice the main emphasis was on labor education and the involvement of homeless children. Formally, such institutions for minors became institutions for the socialization of homeless and neglected children released from colonies. It was established that the detention of juveniles in labor colonies was intended, first, to isolate them from the influence of adult criminals, especially recidivists; secondly, through work and the educational process to form full members of society. Legally, the first legal act approving the legal status of juvenile colonies was the Correctional Labor Code of October 16, 1924. In accordance with the provisions declared in it, all juveniles in child labor colonies were divided into several categories, respectively to the age gradation that operated in the receivers-distributors. Moral and pedagogical abilities were also taken into account. Children’s colonies were part of the general system of correctional facilities, which were regulated by the Correctional Labor Code, but differed in different types of regime in which they operated. Children’s colonies differed from classical prisons in their education and labor education. Self-sufficient citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities were formed in the colonies. It is the labor colonies for juveniles that have become the main type of places for juveniles and homeless and neglected children. These facilities were not only to teach juvenile prisoners labor skills, but also to educate them according to their social status, age, mental and psychological abilities. Children’s labor colonies became part of the Gulag. As of 1939, there were 50 juvenile colonies in this system. It was established that children’s labor colonies stationed in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR were differentiated both in terms of terms of imprisonment for serious crimes and in terms of isolation of juvenile “recidivists” and violators of the regime. The formation of the network of children’s labor colonies was conditioned both by the desire to combat juvenile delinquency and by the attempt to apply educational measures to persons deprived of parental care, while using them as cheap labor.

Status of orphan children in Ukraine in war

Purpose. The aim of our study is to study the historical experience of preventing homelessness and neglect of orphans, as well as the characteristics of legal norms that guarantee the protection of orphans in wartime. Method. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of theoretical and source material and further formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The study used the principles of objectivity and systematicity, as well as general scientific, special legal and special historical methods of scientific knowledge: analysis, synthesis, comparative, functional-legal, system-historical. Results. The problem of orphans should be considered through the prism of the analysis of the historical experience of the emergence of such a phenomenon and the fight against it; causes of homelessness and neglect of orphans; the procedure for taking into care, adoption and upbringing of orphans; information policy of the state in the field of protection of orphans. Respect for the rights of the child is a fundamental task of the state and civil society. This problem is especially relevant in times of war, when the child is always the least protected. Statistics on the number of children orphaned by the war (since 2014), the number of children forcibly deported to Russia, the internal movement of orphans from areas where hostilities are taking place, indicate the urgency of the problem and the need to consolidate society to address this problems. Scientific novelty. The historical aspects of preventing child homelessness are analyzed, the causes of this phenomenon are determined; the changes that have taken place in the national legislation regarding the procedure of taking into care, adoption and upbringing of orphans are pointed out. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in further historical and legal research, preparation of special courses.

Modelling and prediction of NZ's population wellbeing using machine learning techniques.

The importance of population wellbeing is gaining traction and acknowledgment across the globe. In 2019, the government administered NZ’s first ever ‘wellbeing budget’ after recognising that although NZ had strong economic growth, there were high rates of child poverty, homelessness, and suicide. In NZ, detailed wellbeing measures are available from the General Social Survey (GSS), a biennial survey of approximately 10,000 individuals. Although the GSS sample is considered representative of the NZ population, a major limitation is that the survey sample is not representative of certain groups of the population that may be of high policy interest. For example, the wellbeing of social housing tenants is a key area of government focus, but the number of social housing tenants represented in the GSS survey is sparse. Therefore, it is impractical to explore what/how government policies are associated with wellbeing in these smaller subsets of the population. To overcome this challenge, population-level wellbeing data is required. The government’s push for cross-agency data integration over the last several decades led to the development of the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI is a complex population-level government research database containing anonymised individual response data (microdata) relating to people and households that can be linked longitudinally over time. Extrapolating wellbeing data to the full NZ population may be possible by applying advanced modelling techniques on the IDI data. In this study, I propose to use machine learning algorithms (such as random forests, neural networks) to model and predict various GSS-based wellbeing outcomes for the full NZ population. If successful, the outcome of this study (a population-level measure of wellbeing) would enable researchers to easily incorporate wellbeing measures into IDI-based policy analysis. Ultimately, it would improve our understanding of how the political, social, and economic environment influences the wellbeing and functioning of New Zealanders.

“It Made Me so Vulnerable”: Victim-blaming and Disbelief of Child Sexual Abuse as Triggers of Social Exclusion Leading Women to Homelessness

ABSTRACT Although the association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and homelessness among women is well documented, few studies have investigated this topic from a feminist standpoint, examining the impact of sociocultural factors such as rape culture. Based on a qualitative life course approach, individual interviews were conducted with 21 women who experienced both CSA and homelessness. Participants were between 29 to 60 years old (M = 45 years of age). Analyses revealed that CSA disclosure experiences were characterized by victim-blaming and disbelief. Women’s traumatic experiences were further aggravated by these types of reactions. Finally, CSA and negative social reactions to women’s disclosures of CSA were perceived as the onset of social exclusion, which lead to their homelessness. This study shows how traumatic CSA experiences and negative social reactions to their disclosure can both contribute to social exclusion and isolation, and to homelessness through the internalization of rape myths. These findings support the importance of focusing on CSA prevention to reduce social exclusion and homelessness.

Specificity of social work with neglected and street children

The article is devoted to the factors affecting social work with homeless and neglected children and to the relevance of this issue. The article considers the legal basis for the social adaptation of such children, the characteristic features of the impact on them, their features and problems, the effectiveness of the systemic fight against child homelessness and neglect of minors.

The problems of elimination of child homelessness and neglect in Buryatia in the 1920s

Homelessness is a long-standing and urgent problem in Russia, which affects the social, moral and cultural aspects of life of the population. The subject of this research is the fight against homelessness and neglect of minors in the 1920s in a particular region. Analysis is conducted on the measures aimed at elimination of child homelessness and neglect in the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The relevance of this research lies in examination of both positive and negative experience in the process of elimination of homelessness, which can be valuable for solution of the socially acute problems of child homelessness and social orphanhood in the current context. The use of descriptive method allowed analyzing the activity of state institutions and public organizations on the creation of conditions for social protection of homeless children. The historical-systemic method formed a holistic picture of countering child homelessness in the 1920s, as well as illustrated the functional interrelation of various organizational forms. The conducted research demonstrates that social aid to children aimed at overcoming and preventing homelessness is characterized by scarcity of financial resources, absence of consistent actions in this sphere, as well as insufficient assistance received from the public and organizations.

ҚАЗАҚСТАНДАҒЫ 1921-1922 ЖЫЛДАРДАҒЫ АШАРШЫЛЫҚ ЖӘНЕ ОНЫҢ ЗАЛДАПТАРЫ (СОЛТҮСТІК ҚАЗАҚСТАН МАТЕРИАЛДАРЫНЫҢ НЕГІЗІНДЕ)

In the article, the authors reveal the causes and consequences of the famine of 1921-1922 in Kazakhstan, which, in comparison with other affected regions, experienced a greater burden in terms of food security. The famine was aggravated by the devastation and anarchy during the civil war, which prevented the rapid resolution of problems. In the north-western regions of Kazakhstan, famine became possible not only as a result of a natural disaster, but also as a result of the removal of surplus agricultural products by food detachments. The Kazakh people suffered from hunger, especially in connection with fundamental changes in the economy and a reduction in the number of livestock. The article shows the consequences of hunger in the form of an increase in refugees, the spread of disease, child homelessness, crime, etc. The authors come to the conclusion that, although assistance to the hungry was provided, it was clearly insufficient, they show the role of international organizations in the fight against hunger.

CONTRIBUTION OF ZAVOLZHSKY ORPHANAGE № 2 IN ELIMINATING HOMELESSNESS IN THE CHUVASH ASSR

In post-revolutionary Russia, the scale of child homelessness and adolescent neglect, which resulted from October 1917, the events of the First World War and the Civil War, devastation of the national economy, unemployment, the mass spread of social diseases and other social upheavals, caused serious concern to the Government of the country. A number of legislative acts are adopted that create a legal and organizational basis for combating the social evil of homelessness (creation of children’s militia, children’s social inspections, commissions on juvenile affairs, labor communes and camps, orphanages, remand houses, as well as the emergence of public organizations). A separate area of the authorities’ work in this direction is massive organization of child care and foster care institutions throughout the country; in a number of national regions, including the Chuvash ASSR, the number of orphanages and children’s towns partially solved the problem of homelessness growth, but did not eliminate it.
 
 The conducted research reveals the contribution of Zavolzhsky House № 2 under the Ministry of Education of the Chuvash ASSR in solving the problems of combating, preventing and eliminating the social evil of homelessness in the Chuvash Region. Timely measures for organizing the life of orphans and semi-orphans made it possible to consider the Chuvash ASSR a region that successfully coped with the state task of eliminating homelessness in the Soviet Russia.

Mitigating the severity of child homelessness in the UK: a global mixed-methods systematic review

BackgroundIn 2019, 585 000 children in England were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health-care delivery system has amplified the inequalities faced by marginalised children. Although the UK has had a series of successful health sector reforms, few have designed or implemented strategies that target reach, access, and use of public health services for marginalised children. This project aims to identify such strategies by exploring solutions used in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), through reverse-innovation. MethodsWe undertook a systematic review of the literature published in English from PubMed, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS between Jan 1, 2010, and March 31, 2021. We explored the literature focusing on policy, strategy, intervention, and services, using keywords and Medical Subject Headings corresponding to the target population, and medical, health, and nutrition services including preventive and immunisation services, and outcomes. Our target population included homeless and marginalised children. We defined marginality in terms of social distances following Braun and Gatzweiler (2013). We included in our search homelessness, temporary accommodation (eg, makeshift accommodation, emergency shelter, and feral), the conditions that put a child at risk of homelessness (eg, war, battle, conflict, refugee, displaced, and migrant), and the general conditions of social distances (eg, poverty, and financial catastrophe) that do not belong to discrimination. We used the Arksey O'Malley framework with Levene's extension in the aforementioned databases and Google Scholar to improve inclusivity. The primary outcomes included access, coverage, and utilisation of child health and nutrition services. The impact measurements included morbidity, mortality, and economic outcomes (return on investment, cost, and efficiency). We applied natural language processing for thematic analysis of qualitative evidence. The analysis was assisted by Python (v3.7.12). FindingsWe found 53 final articles (47 quantitative and six qualitative) from LMICs. Community-focused and financial interventions were successful in different settings. Financial interventions such as user-fee removal increased health care and service use between 15–309%. Cash transfers increased immunisation coverage, financial security, and nutrition. Mobile health services and the individualised tactics of community midwives and volunteers improved the coverage and use of child health and nutrition services. Community-based savings groups, user-fee removal, and cash transfer policies improved access and utilisation. mHealth applications and capacity building of health workforce increased coverage and quality of these services and improved clinic attendance. InterpretationUK policy makers could adapt and adopt targeted and conditional cash transfer policies to provide greater financial security to homeless families and make child health care more affordable and inclusive. Volunteer and mobile-clinic-based community services would increase access and use of these services in the COVID-19 recovery phase. Our review may have missed matured strategies published before 2010. We were unable to estimate a pooled effect. FundingESRC, UK Research and Innovation rapid response COVID 19.

Меры по защите детства в годы Великой Отечественной войны: из региональной истории.

The article is devoted to a topical scientific topic that has, first of all, social significance, which has not yet received special consideration in regional historiography - the topic of war childhood. Based on a large range of documentary materials and various sources, the support of children at the state level during the Great Patriotic War is considered on the example of one of the rear regions of the USSR - the Bashkir ASSR. Shows the adoption of legislative and regulatory acts on the protection of various categories of the child population and their implementation. Attention is drawn to the solution of the problem of child homelessness and neglect, aggravated in wartime conditions. The activity of power structures, public organizations of the republic to provide assistance to children and children's institutions, the existing difficulties and omissions are analyzed. A special place in the article is occupied by children's institutions that were evacuated in the republic from various regions of the Soviet country, including those with Spanish pupils. Introduction: The article examines the scientific topic of military childhood using a regional example. It should be noted that, in general, a lot has been done in the study of the history of the Great Patriotic War in Russian historiography: a large number of monographs, collections of articles, conference materials, documents and materials have been http://www.hist-edu.ru Историческая и социально-образовательная мысль. Toм 13 №3, 2021 Historical and Social-Educational Idea. Volume 13 #3, 2021 48 published. But this topic has not yet received special consideration. The same is typical for regional historiography. Methods: The content of the article is based on various research methods, first of all, on the method of historicism, a consistent presentation of the events of regional significance in close connection with all-Union events, which allows us to show the specific features of the development of these events in a given region. Methods of objectivity and scientificness were also applied, aimed at studying the main points of the topic in consistent dynamics, identifying objective information and facts. In the presentation of the article, the methods of comparative historical analysis, problem-chronological and logical ones were used. Results: The article is based on archival documents found in the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the State Archives of the Russian Federation, as well as on various sources such as materials from periodicals, local museums and memories of war children. This made it possible to consider the provision of assistance to children in a specific region of the Soviet country during the war years, to identify difficulties and miscalculations. The documentary materials and various sources used in the article made it possible to draw the appropriate conclusion: the support of childhood at the state level was contradictory, which was associated with objective reasons.

The NKVD of the Far East in the Fight Against Child Homelessness and Neglect (1941–1945)

The problem of child homelessness and neglect in the USSR became one of the grave socio-economic consequences of the Great Patriotic war. These phenomena, instilling in children the skills of antisocial behavior, contribute to the criminalization of the younger generation, the degradation of future labor resources. This publication, based on documentary sources, a significant part of which is introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, aims to analyze and summarize the historical experience of the NKVD of the Far Eastern region in the fight against homelessness and neglect in wartime conditions. The author solves the following problems: analysis of factors contributing to the sharp increase in the phenomena under consideration during the war in the Far East; characteristics of organizational forms and methods used by the NKVD in order to combat child homelessness and neglect; research of the reasons that negatively affected the effectiveness of the internal affairs bodies in this direction. The research uses the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency, as well as general scientific and special methods of historical science. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the Far Eastern NKVD bodies were able to achieve significant success by the end of 1945 in countering homelessness, neglect and child crime, however, for a number of objective reasons, they were not able to completely neutralize the negative impact of these phenomena on the Far Eastern society, which affected the level of its criminalization in subsequent years. Organizational forms and methods of combating child homelessness and neglect evolved during the war years, responding to the aggravation of the nature of the problem. In the organizational structure of the NKVD bodies, such elements as departments for combating child homelessness and neglect, children’s rooms of the police, labor educational colonies for minors appeared; interaction with the active public of the region was intensified. Keywords: Far East; children’s police rooms, NKVD receivers and distributors; NKVD bodies, World War II; homelessness and neglect

ХХ АСР 20-30 ЙИЛЛАРИДА ЎЗБЕКИСТОНДА БОЛАЛАР ҚАРОВСИЗЛИГИНИБАРТАРАФ ЭТИШДА ИЧКИ ИШЛАРМУАССАСАЛАРИ ФАОЛИЯТИ

The article presents information about the problems of child homelessness in Uzbekistan in the 20-30s of the XX century and the measures taken by representatives of the internal affairs bodies to prevent them, their achievements and shortcomings. It provides information on the reasons for thegrowing number of child homelessness in Uzbekistan and the social risks they pose.The system of internal affairs is analyzed on the basis of archival data on the work done in the field of child care during this period, as well as the mistakes and shortcomings made by them. It provides information on the decisions and regulations adopted by the CEC of the USSR (Central Executive Committee) and the CPC (Council of People's Commissars) to eliminate child homelessness, as well as the state of their impact. A social portrait of street children of this period is also presented, explaining the reasons for their desireto live on the streets.Index Terms:homelessness children, orphanage, children's reception, reformatorium, criminal child, police department, juvenile cell.

Массовая беспризорность детей Украины в годы Голодомора-геноцида 1932–1933 гг.

The aim of the article. Based on a comprehensive analysis of archives, published documents, and materials, as well as current historical studies, the phenomenon of mass child homelessness in Ukraine during the Holodomor-Genocide which organized by the Russian communist regime in 1932–1933s is highlighted. The aim of the article is to analyze the activities of state authorities and their commissions in assisting homeless children in the process of overcoming this tragic social phenomenon. The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific (analysis and synthesis), special and historical (problem-chronological, historical-systematic) methods and principles of scientificity and historicism. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the author first attempted a systematic analysis of the mass child homelessness and death caused by the authorities for the first time in the history of Ukraine during the Holodomor-Genocide. Conclusions. We can state that almost all of the activities of state authorities to overcome mass starvation and homelessness of children and adolescents during the Holodomor-Genocide of 1932–1933s consisted in overcoming street homelessness as a social phenomenon by removing children from the streets, placing them in unsuitable premises due to a lack of residential care facilities, returning them to families or placing them under collective and individual foster care. Such measures only partially served to improve the situation of a tiny proportion of children, but could not address the issue fundamentally, since it was not a primary concern of the Stalin’s regime itself. After all, the main reason for the growth of homelessness was the mass starvation of the Ukrainian peasants caused by his anti-human policy of liquidating the Ukrainian peasantry through mass repression and terror and plundering food by the so-called “dekulakization”, which implied the physical destruction of the peasant and his descendants and further enslavement of those who remained, and driving them into collective farms.

State-legal means of struggle with child homelessness and neglect in Russia in 1920-1940

State-legal means of struggle with child homelessness and neglect in Russia in 1920-1940

Science of the Child in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia by Andy Byford

Reviewed by: Science of the Child in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia by Andy Byford Lisa A. Kirschenbaum Science of the Child in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia. By Andy Byford. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. xxiv + 297 pp. Cloth $85. Andy Byford's theoretically sophisticated and deeply researched monograph is as expansive and willing to transgress disciplinary boundaries as the "science of the child," whose origins, growth, and demise it documents. He defines the "science of the child" as a fluid domain of scientific knowledge and professional practice at the intersection of education, medicine, and psychology constructed in "most modernizing societies worldwide" between the 1880s and 1930s (1). Approaching Russian and early Soviet child science as part of the transnational "scientization" of childhood, the book often highlights continuities and similarities in the theories, purposes, institutions, and methods of child science across "modernizing societies" as well as across the revolutionary divide in Russia (4). However, Byford remains attuned to the distinctiveness of [End Page 167] the Russian and especially Soviet science of the child (called "pedology") that flourished in the 1920s, only to be eradicated by party decree in the mid-1930s. Connecting Soviet pedology to varied state interventions designed to modernize populations, Byford complicates histories of Soviet education that characterize pedology as a utopian project whose dissolution marked the triumph of Stalinism in the schools. The first half of the book charts the efforts of a wide range of scholars and practitioners to construct not only "scientific" understandings of child development, but new professional identities, institutions, and alliances. Byford, a professor of Russian, sets the chapter-length introduction in a highly theoretical key, distilling an impressive range of historical, sociological, and conceptual works on childhood and the human sciences into a complex account of the transnational emergence of child science. He links the impulse to turn children into both "objects of systematic science" and "biopsychosocial embodiments of development" to "accelerated modernization," the professionalization of teaching, and "the expanding welfare/warfare states' reliance on scientific expertise" (1, 2, 25). Historians may feel more at home in the chapters that follow, as Byford takes a somewhat more narrative and empirical approach to exploring significant themes in prerevolutionary child science. Chapter 2 tracks the concept of vospitanie (upbringing) from its emergence as a key concern of the liberal intelligentsia in the reformist 1860s through its "scientization" in the late nineteenth century. A particularly fascinating aspect of this chapter is Byford's discussion of the mobilization of parents to keep detailed accounts of their child's development, which could be interpreted by trained (usually male) professionals. In chapter 3, Byford turns to child science advocates' efforts to influence another key constituency regarded as in need of professionalization: teachers. He traces the diverse institutions and individuals who worked between 1890 and 1917 to develop a "scientific pedagogy" that would raise teachers' professional status and extend the reach of child experts in medicine and psychology (83). The difficulty of balancing the distinctive disciplinary priorities and perspectives shaping child science emerges forcefully in chapter 4, which explores conflicts between teachers, psychologists, and psychiatrists regarding who had the standing to diagnose and cure the "imperfect child" (113). The second half of the book focuses on the rise and fall of Soviet pedology, and chapter 5 explores 1917 as a critical turning point in the development of Russian child science. Byford questions the centrality of ideology in this rupture, highlighting instead the ramifications of a new commitment to the [End Page 168] upbringing of working-class and national-minority children. Indeed, he finds much continuity across the revolutionary divide, as individuals and institutions prominent before the Revolution worked on scientific solutions to the problem of child homelessness (besprizornost') that confronted the Soviet state between 1917 and the early 1920s. In chapter 6, Byford examines the heyday of Soviet pedology, the late 1920s, when the eclecticism of the early years of the decade gave way to efforts to articulate pedology's contribution to the revolutionary transformation envisioned by Stalin's first Five-Year Plan. He turns to pedology's demise in chapter 7. The sharp 1931 turn of educational policy toward more traditional schooling effectively reduced pedology...

The activities of public organizations in overcoming the child homelessness and neglect in the Ukrainian SSR in the 1920s

The article describes the activities of public organizations in overcoming child homelessness and neglect of the USSR in the 1920s, showing their mechanism of functioning. It has been proven that public organizations were actively involved in the protection of children and the fight against homelessness, neglect and juvenile delinquency. They provided individual assistance to orphans and half-orphans and were engaged in the prevention of homelessness. These organizations also organized patronage, assisted in the maintenance of childcare establishments, participated actively in the creation of institutions for children of the unemployed, and provided protection of minors’ labor rights.

29.D. Skills building seminar: Using design thinking to mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals and families

Abstract In keeping with the conference theme Future of Humanity: analysis, advocacy and action; we propose a skills-building workshop incorporating innovative learning practices and use of design thinking processes for a pertinent public health issue - homelessness. Complex problems, including homelessness, remain intractable due to a number of issues including policies, social norms, powerlessness and lack of knowledge. Leaving no one behind is the mantra of the programme for Sustainable Development Goals; the blueprint for a sustainable world. It is imperative to consider how this translates for homeless groups and ensure they are not left behind and continue to experience inequalities in health outcomes and hardship. Design thinking itself is an approach to problem-solving that is human-centred, focusing on empathy, idea generation and prototyping of solutions underpinned by designer thinking processes with consideration of feasibility and viability of solutions. We propose a 60-minute design thinking sprint for active, collaborative learning, building capacity and knowledge. Our proposed format incorporates creativity and innovative methods to engage with conference delegates, sharing of experiences and bringing the outside world into our session. This method frames a problem in a human-centric way by first understanding another's perspective and we propose to use the Stanford D. model: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test. To introduce design thinking to address homelessness as a major public health issue.To undertake a design sprint with participants to address the health impact of homelessness through the development of low fidelity prototypes.To explore the application of design thinking to other complex public health challenges and as a tool for collaboration and problem-solving in public health. We will use the framework of a design sprint for the session: Introduction - 'Homelessness' as a complex public health challenge 5 mins Explaining Design Thinking and Design Sprints 5 mins Phase 1 - Empathizing: Understanding Homelessness 10 minsPhase 2 - Defining: What is a specific user challenge? 5 minsPhase 3 - Ideating: Brainstorm solutions 10 minsPhase 4 - Rapid prototyping: Building low fidelity solutions for testing 10 minsPhase 5 - Pitching: Presentation of prototypes 10 mins Summary and next steps for collaboration (Chair): 5 mins The workshop will use creative methods of engagement, including drawing, writing, storyboarding, constructing/modelling components to build end-user solutions for homelessness. The use of a design sprint format offers an alternative to either oral presentations or a panel discussion for collaborative and creative engagement with delegates. Both Chairpersons have used design thinking to consider homelessness for children, families and adults in Ireland. Key messages Design thinking provides testable innovations in service development for socially marginalised groups. Design thinking is a low cost, creative form that facilitates close collaboration between service providers and users.

Physical illnesses associated with childhood homelessness - a literature review

Abstract Background and aims Childhood homelessness is a growing concern in Ireland creating a Pediatric subpopulation at increased risk of physical illnesses, many with life-long consequences. Our aim was to identify and categorize the physical morbidities prevalent in homeless children. Methods A review of the English-language literature on physical morbidities affecting homeless children (defined as < 18 years of age), published from 1999-2019 was conducted. A total of 1194 articles were identified, 33 articles of which met our inclusion criteria. Results Respiratory issues were the most commonly cited illnesses affecting homeless children; including asthma, upper respiratory tract infections, and chronic cough. Homeless children were described as being at increased risk of contracting infectious diseases, many studies placing emphasis on STI and HIV/AIDS transmission. Dermatologic concerns comprised of scabies and head lice infestation, dermatitis, and abrasions. Malnutrition manifested as a range of physical morbidities; including childhood obesity, iron deficiency anemia, and stunted growth. Studies found a higher prevalence of poor dental and ocular health in this population as well. Many articles also commented on the risk factors predisposing homeless children to these physical health concerns, which can broadly be categorized as limited access to health care, poor living conditions, and lack of education. Conclusions This literature review summarized the physical illnesses prevalent among homeless children and the contributing factors leading to them. Gaps in the literature were also identified, and included a dearth of studies focusing on younger children compared to adolescents. We believe that the current issue of child homelessness is socially and medically unacceptable and that homelessness occurring today will be one of the scandals of the next generation. Further research into prevention and intervention programs for this vulnerable population is urgently needed. Key messages This literature review shows that homeless children are at an increased risk of several physical morbidities and identified the common themes among them. Based on this literature review, it is recommended that more research be done into developing appropriate intervention and prevention strategies to help this vulnerable population.

The psychological impact of childhood homelessness-a literature review.

In August 2019, 3848 children in Ireland were faced with emergency homelessness[1]. In recent years, lack of affordable housing, unemployment and shortage of rental properties have been the primary driving factors for the potentially devastating impact of familial homelessness in our society[1]. Our aim was to evaluate current knowledge on the psychological impact of homelessness in children. Using the PRISMA model, we performed a review of the currently available literature on the psychological impact of homelessness on children. This concept was explored under two different categories-'transgenerational' and 'new-onset homelessness'. Hidden homelessness was also explored. Our literature review revealed several psychological morbidities which were unique to children. This includes developmental and learning delays, behavioural difficulties and increased levels of anxiety and depression[66, 77, 40, 81, 42]. This has been demonstrated by poorer performance in school testing and increased levels of aggression. Anxiety in children within this cohort has been shown to peak at time of dispersion from their stable home environment[67]. Our study highlights violence, aggression and poor academic learning outcomes to be just some of the key findings in our review of homelessness in childhood, worldwide. Unfortunately, there has been minimum research to date on paediatric homelessness within the context of the Irish population. We anticipate this review to be the first chapter in a multipart series investigation to evaluate the psychological morbidity of paediatric homelessness within the Irish Society.