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Children on the Streets of the Americas : Globalization, Homelessness and Education in the United States, Brazil, and Cuba (Paperback) 

by Roslyn Mickelson

 
 

Review

In her Foreword, Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, promotes this book as one that shows us the face of homelessness in Brazil, Cuba, and the United States. Mickelson's book certainly does that, while offering the reader comparative analysis of education for the least privileged children in the context of globalization. The book will be most appreciated by students of the social foundations of education and by sociologists of education who are looking to connect the education of children with larger scale social processes.. �Contemporary Sociology, May 2001 

Book Description
The number of street children in developed and developing nations is rising, often in the midst of prosperity. These original contributions study and compare the living conditions and educational experiences of homeless children in the United States, Brazil and Cuba. Because social policy and economic factors are central to these children's plight, Mickelson and her contributors employ a political economy perspective to examine the lives of the children and the educational and social programs-successful and unsuccessful-that are designed to serve them. The book examines formal and informal programs, compares and contrasts children's situations in each country, and offers policy recommendations. Throughout the book, case studies are combined with recent statistical and demographic facts about each country. Also includes maps.

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Family Homelessness (Children of Poverty) (Hardcover)

by K. Jackson

Book Description
This book examines the multiple factors which contribute to family homelessness, and uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify those factors which represent the major supports and barriers to homeless exit and housing stability. Results show that while family homelessness is not caused by a single issue (but a combination of issues including alcohol/substance abuse, untreated mental illness, domestic violence, family configuration, lack of community or social supports, and/or lack of affordable housing options) community and social supports provide the single most significant impact on the ability of families to exit homelessness and maintain stable housing.

Quantitative data suggests that investing in community/social supports for homeless families could facilitate their exit from homelessness and increase housing stability for families at risk, while reducing those supports might increase homelessness. Qualitative data indicates that supportive relationships are instrumental to understanding that while homelessness is a terrible experience, those who experience homelessness are not terrible people. Furthermore, recognizing that a loss of housing does not necessarily mean the loss of one's symbolic representation of 'home' could assist families in viewing homelessness as a transformational learning experience rather than a traumatic failure.
 


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Confronting Homelessness Among American Families (Paperback) 

by Madelyn Dewoody 


 

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The Cycle of Family Homelessness : A Social Policy Reader (Paperback) 

by Institute for Children & Poverty

Book Description
This reader contains timely information on family homelessness and is an excellent source of supplementary reading for courses in the fields of urban studies, political science, sociology and social work.
 

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The Impact of Homelessness on Children (Children of Poverty) (Hardcover) 

by Linda Sullivan


 

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African American Children Who Have Experienced Homelessness (Children of Poverty)

by Nancy Compton

Book Description
African American Children examines social, health, and interpersonal factors as they relate to cognitive and psychological functioning in a sample of formerly homeless African American children ages three to six. Using an ecological model, the interplay between individual, family, and environmental factors is emphasized. Implications for social policy based on the significant findings of this study include early intervention and prevention programs to assist low-income mothers with psychological support, early prenatal care, drug treatment, and services to escape and recover from domestic violence.
 

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Homeless Families With Children: A Subjective Experience of Homelessness (Springer Series on Social Work) (Hardcover) 

by Namkee G. Choi, Lidia J. Snyder

Book Description
State Univ. of New York, Buffalo. Focuses on how parents struggle to maintain family cohesiveness and raise their children in the midst of a problem with homelessness. Based on the authors' qualitative study of 80 homeless families. Looks at drug addiction, eviction, vandalism, violence, and mental health problems.
 

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"Moving to Nowhere": Children's Stories of Homelessness (Hardcover) 

by Mary E. Walsh 

Book Description
This sensitive, insightful, and troubling book communicates, through the voices of children, the harsh life experiences of homelessness. Skilled clinical-developmental psychologist Dr. Mary Walsh presents a study that both analyzes the problem of homelessness and conveys the sadness, confusion, poverty, loneliness, and uncertainty with which "shelter" children must cope. Individual chapters address basic relationships common to all children--family, friends, and school--and then consider how these relationships are impacted by homelessness, the factors which lead to this condition, and the crowded, stressful life in the shelters.
 

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Rachel and Her Children : Homeless Families in America (Paperback)  

by Jonathan Kozol

Book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
To write this "jolting firsthand report," Kozol spent months among the homeless, whose depressing stories, interwoven with his commentaries, tell of infant deaths, malnutrition, hunger, loss of dignity and desperation. "This powerful volume," PW maintained, " forces one to ask: 'What are our national priorities?' " Author tour. 
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.   

From School Library Journal
YA A horrifying, staggering book about the homeless in this country as specifically exemplified by those who are housed in the Martinique Hotel in New York. Through direct, simply stat ed interviews with several families in the Martinique over a period of time, Kozol systematically strips away the stereotypic litany of what is wrong with welfare recipients (too lazy to work, etc.). He shows repeated case histories of people held captive by a welfare sys tem that would rather pay the private sector $1,900 a month to house them in squalor than give them perhaps a third of that amount for apartment rent and a chance to gain back their self-respect. There is much about this book that is not only infuriating but also uncomfortable; many of these people have previously been educated, productive citizens who have endured several life crises and lost everything. The true heart of this book, however, rests on two points the lack of affordable housing for the poor and, most tragically, the children who will become adults with little education, poor health, no marketable skills, and mental and emotional scars from spending a childhood under these conditions. Kozol's writing is clear and reads easily due to his stark, unembellished style. It is always the people who shine through; they are a testament to the human spirit. It is impossible to read this book and remain untouched. Barbara Weathers, Duchesne Academy, Houston
 

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What About America's Homeless Children? : Hide and Seek (SAGE Sourcebooks for the Human Services) (Paperback) 

by Paul G. Shane 

Book Description
Who are the homeless children in America and what do we know about them? How does their being homeless affect them and society in general? What's being done to help them? What About America's Homeless Children? takes a multifaceted look at the growing, disturbing problem of children (including infants) in homeless families and abandoned and runaway children in America. The author examines the social factors that create homeless situations of children and personal and educational problems that can result from it. The health risks to this population, including unsanitary living conditions, poor nutrition, physical assault, and lack of access to health care are also explored. Author Paul G. Shane brings the problems and effects of homelessness to a personal level by presenting ethnographic case studies of individual children in urban shelters, families in a shelter program, and people who "survived" a homeless youth experience. The history of programs, both governmental and nongovernmental, and government policies for homeless youth are also examined. The book concludes with recommendations for policies and programs that can prevent homelessness for children. Human service professionals and policymakers who deal with children and families as well as those in the fields of public health, policy studies, and clinical and counseling psychology will find this book a stimulating summary of research findings and implications about this vulnerable population.
 

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Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small-Town America (Paperback) 

by Yvonne Marie Vissing

Book Review
From Publishers Weekly
In six years of research in New Hampshire, sociologist Vissing saw runaway teens, malnourished children, and upside-down family functioning in which child nurtures parent. Small-town homelessness, Vissing contends, is as bad as, and often worse than, urban. While the rural homeless "live in chaos, out of the chaos there results an orderly existence." Unfortunately, neither contention is well developed. Instead of a sharp focus, Vissing offers a sprawling literature review with snippets from her own findings woven throughout. Vissing prefers the terms housing distress and displacement to homelessness, and these bring within her purview not only people on the streets but families living in trailer parks and campgrounds, and those unfortunates doubling up with relatives. Interview quotes have the ring of truth, but jargon, overly elastic categories and subjective reporting muddy the discussion. Frequently, Vissing crosses the line from analyzing to sermonizing: "Imagine how much better and more appropriate poor, distressed parents would be if they had the same resources as other parents!" "Many heroic students were interviewed." However, she offers sensible advice to social workers and community activists, and the 679-item bibliography will give sociology students something to mull over.
 

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Youth Homelessness (Hardcover) 

by Susan Hutson, Mark Liddiard, Jo Campling 


 

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Homeless Families (Paperback) 

by Barry Jay Seltser, Donald E. Miller 


 

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Children and families without homes: Observations from thirty case studies (Homelessness in the District of Columbia project) (Homelessness in the District of Columbia project) 

by Vijaya L Melnick 


 

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Better Times Than This : Youth Homelessness in Britain (Paperback) 

by Tom Hall 

Book Description
This is a vivid portrait of youth homelessness. The author spent twelve months in the company of a group of young people moving between shelters, hostels, rooming houses, and the street. The result is a compelling narrative of a growing social crisis. Drawing on anthropological and sociological perspectives, Tom Hall explores themes of marginality, community, youth and home. He provides a detailed description of the lived experience of those in a particular excluded corner of society, and, in doing so, aims to create an account of wider resonance. The young homeless, although removed from much of the substance of society, live through, and are emblematic of, changes fundamental to the reshaping of social life in the UK and beyond. Out of work, out of the family home and on the fringes of the social security system, they experience acutely the end of welfare capitalism and find themselves at the focus of contemporary fears of social disintegration. The book explores what it means to be growing up at the cutting edge of these changes.
 

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At Home in the Street : Street Children of Northeast Brazil (Paperback)
by Tobias Hecht

Book Reviews
From Library Journal
During the past few years the street children of Brazil have drawn the attention of international groups and the media. Much of this attention has focused on what has been described as death-squad murders and exploitation by the police and the underworld of these youths. The attention has been so significant that street children have become a cultural symbol of Brazil as viewed by the world community. Hecht, an anthropologist, has published a study that is the result of fieldwork done in Recife and Olinda Pernambuco, Brazil, between 1992 and 1995. Using a variety of research tools, the author details the children's difficult lives, examining violence perpetrated against them and suggesting that mistreatment by police and family is of greater importance than that by the death squads. This book will be of value to libraries with strong Latin American collections and interest in international social issues. Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
 

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The Effects of Homelessness on the Academic Achievement of Children (Children of Poverty) (Hardcover)

by Henrietta Attles


 

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With No Direction Home : Homeless Youth on the Road and In the Streets (Case Studies on Contemporary Social Issues) (Paperback)
by Marni Finkelstein

Book Description
This book gives voice to the homeless youth and is rich with material on their everyday lives, including living conditions and street experiences. The case study's strength lies in its ethnographic methodology, which combines direct observations and qualitative interviews. Ethnography is particularly important in describing populations and social environments that are hidden from normal observation, and is indispensable when exploring emerging phenomena, such as the formative fictive kin networks among street youth, or new ways of looking at drug addiction. Finkelstein discusses her own experiences with the street kids, including how she was able to develop a rapport within the "street scene."
 

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Homeless Youth (Working with Children and Adolescents series) (Paperback)

by Jan D van der Ploeg, Evert M Scholte

Book Description
This wide-ranging book analyzes and explains the problem of youth homelessness in the Western world. Taking into account psychological characteristics while highlighting the major risk factors in the family, at school, and in society at large, the authors offer both practitioners and policymakers the tools to help deal with all aspects of this problem. Homeless Youth offers a clear, conceptual and theoretical framework that defines the phenomenon of homelessness and draws on data from across Europe and North America to establish its scope and prevalence among youth today. It also provides a thorough and comprehensive strategy where prevention and intervention go hand in hand. Homeless Youth will be an invaluable resource for all those working to tackle this difficult problem from many perspectives including psychology, psychiatry, social work, and social policy.
 

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Mean Streets : Youth Crime and Homelessness (Cambridge Studies in Criminology) (Paperback)

by John Hagan, Bill McCarthy, Alfred Blumstein

Book Description
This field study features intensive personal interviews of more than four hundred young people who have left home and school and are living on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver. The study examines why youth take to the streets, their struggles to survive there, their victimization and involvement in crime, their associations with other street youth, especially within "street families," their contacts with the police, and their efforts to rejoin conventional society. Major theories of youth crime are analyzed and reappraised in the context of a new social capital theory of crime.

Download Description
This field study features intensive personal interviews of more than four hundred young people who have left home and school and are living on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver. The study examines why youth take to the streets, their struggles to survive there, their victimization and involvement in crime, their associations with other street youth, especially within "street families," their contacts with the police, and their efforts to rejoin conventional society. Major theories of youth crime are analyzed and reappraised in the context of a new social capital theory of crime.


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