Homeless Children & Youth | Migrant Education

• Identifying homeless children and youth
• Immediate enrollment and facilitation of enrollment disputes
• Ensuring access to school and appropriate educational services
• Reducing school transfers and supporting educational stability and continuity
• Increasing parental choice and involvement regarding school enrollment
• Ensuring the educational rights of unaccompanied youth, and
• Providing information about the rights of homeless children and youth

Visit the Vermont Agency of Education website for additional information.

Homeless children and youth face lots of barriers in trying to enroll, remain, and be successful in school, including:

• Enrollment requirements (school records, health records, proof of residence, and guardianship)
• High mobility resulting in a lack of school stability and educational continuity.
• Lack of transportation
• Lack of school supplies, clothing, etc
• Poor health, fatigue, hunger, anxiety/trauma
• Invisibility (lack of awareness)
• Prejudice and misunderstanding
• For unaccompanied youth (youth who do not live with their parents or a guardian): lack of adult guardian; need for employment; credit accrual policies; concerns of capture by authorities.

The McKinney-Vento Act’s definition of who qualifies as a homeless child or youth is quite broad: “Children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,” including, but not limited to:

• Sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason (“doubled up”)
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping grounds due to lack of adequate alternative accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Abandoned in hospitals
• Awaiting foster care placement
• Living in a public or private place not designed for humans to live
• Living in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, bus or train stations, etc.
• Migratory children living in the above circumstances

No, the law does not specify an age range. McKinney-Vento applies to all school-aged children and youth.

Notify your child(ren)’s school as soon as you can and fill out the necessary form so that they can work with you to decide future educational services.

Children who are experiencing homelessness are eligible for their school’s nutrition program. Your local school can help to facilitate access to nutrition, transportation, and possibly other resources. They will contact the OESU Homeless liaison on your behalf.

A referral must be completed and submitted to the OESU Homeless Liaison to determine eligibility for homelessness.

School Referral Form

OESU Homeless Liaison

Email

• Vermont 2-1-1 

  Community resources available in Vermont, including emergency food and shelter, disability services, counseling, senior services, health care, child care, drug and alcohol problems, legal assistance, transportation agencies, educational and volunteer opportunities and more. Available online or over the phone. Call: 211, 1-866-652-4636 (toll free in VT). 

• Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness
• Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs
• Vermont Food Bank
• Vermont Career Resources
• Vermont Department for Children and Families | Housing Assistance Programs

There are more than 300 students enrolled in VMEP in the state of Vermont every year. An eligible student can be of any race and/or ethnicity and speak any language.

In order for there to be a migratory child, there must be a migratory worker. Migratory means a worker who has moved at least once within the last 36 months across school district lines to engage in seasonal or temporary agricultural work. A child who moves with a migratory worker across school district lines qualifies for VMEP.

Examples of qualifying agricultural work may include dairy, livestock, fruit, vegetable, hemp and crop work, food processing, maple sugaring, logging, planting trees, and fishing. VMEP will help the worker to determine whether his/her current or past employment includes eligible work.

A child may qualify if the following apply:

• Child is under the age of 22 and has not graduated from high school or another accreditation program; and
• Child has moved across school district lines with a farmworker (parents, guardians, etc.); and
• Parent/guardian has engaged in qualifying agricultural work.

A farmworker without children may qualify if the following apply:

• Farmworker is under the age of 22 and has not graduated from high school or another accreditation program; and
• Has moved across school district lines; and
• Has engaged in qualifying agricultural work after the move.

From https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agriculture/farmworker/vmep

Contact:

Click on the brochure below to learn more about the Vermont Migrant Education Program:

En Español (PDF)

Find out if you are eligible for services by completing the

Agricultural Employment Survey: In English (PDF) | En Español (PDF)