UNC. US: A pilot study in Wake County, North Carolina, finds that 25 percent
of children who are homeless are in need of mental health services. The
study, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and
Community Action Targeting Children who are Homeless (CATCH), highlights
the need for more screening and support for the millions of homeless
children in the United States.
“These children have often been exposed to domestic or neighborhood
violence, chronic poverty, inadequate healthcare and other circumstances
that place any child at risk of mental health problems,” says Dr. Mary
Haskett, a professor of psychology at NC State and lead author of a
paper on the research.
“As a result of their exposure to those difficult life circumstances –
combined with living in a shelter – homeless children are at a much
greater risk of developmental delays, social and emotional problems, and
problems at school,” says Jenna Armstrong, a Ph.D. student at NC State
and co-author of the paper. “And the scale of the problem is huge.” A 2014 report from the National Center on Family Homelessness found that 2.5 million children are homeless each year in the U.S.
“Our research was aimed at defining the scope of the problem and
determining whether screening children at homeless shelters could be a
valuable tool for connecting families with resources to help meet a
child’s mental health needs,” Armstrong says.
The researchers drew on data from CATCH, a Salvation Army-funded
project that works with homeless families at 11 shelters in Wake County
to address the mental health needs of children. The CATCH project
screens children who enter the shelters, assessing each child’s
development and social-emotional functioning.
Haskett and Armstrong evaluated screening data on 328 children, who were between two months and six years old.
“We found that 25 percent of the children in shelters needed mental
health services, based on their social-emotional functioning,” Armstrong
says. “This rate is certainly much, much higher than in the general
population.” For purposes of comparison, Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty reports that social and emotional problems impair 10 to 14 percent of U.S. children from birth to age five.
The researchers also found that school-age children, between five and
six years old, also performed well below average on language and
academic skills. This affected both boys and girls, though boys
performed significantly worse than girls in both areas of functioning.
“Children in shelters are often overlooked – they’re basically
invisible,” Armstrong says. “But these findings highlight the importance
of providing resources to meet the needs of these children. Twenty-five
percent of 2.5 million is 625,000. So, we’re talking about 625,000
children who need mental health support every year in the United States.
We, as a society, can’t afford to let these kids down.”
The paper, “Developmental Status and Social–Emotional Functioning of Young Children Experiencing Homelessness,” is published online in the Early Childhood Education Journal.
The paper was co-authored by Jennifer Tisdale of CATCH. The work was
supported by the Salvation Army, Wake County Smart Start and the John
Rex Endowment.