Some kids will do anything to get out of going to school. But for a homeless child, school may be one of the only remaining ties to their “normal” life.

By ensuring the educational rights and protections for such a child, the McKinneyVento Homeless Assistance Act offers a ray of light for a homeless youngster.

What sets McKinney-Vento apart from other programs dedicated to helping the homeless is how it defines a homeless child. Under the act, a child is homeless if they lack “a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”

This includes people who are sharing a house or renting a room or garage from another family due to loss of housing or economic hardship.

It also includes people who are living in shelters or transitional facilities, cars, motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping grounds, parks, abandoned buildings or any other place not meant for human habitation.

Such a broad definition helps education providers accomplish their primary goal: making sure all children can go to school.

The law allows homeless youths to immediately enroll in school even if they do not have all the necessary paperwork, though students with an Individual Education Plan may be delayed. Homeless children can also continue attending their school of origin even if they no longer live in the same district.

Students can get free meals, school uniforms and backpacks filled with supplies and receive transportation to and from school at no cost.

The only problem? Not everyone knows this help is available, not even some homeless service providers.

Betty Eskey, executive director of the Samaritan Center, was surprised to hear all that is available under the McKinney-Vento Act.

“We’re scrounging money together to pay for backpacks, for school trips,” Eskey said. “This is very good.”

Due to the recession and the large number of foreclosures around town, more local families are now finding themselves— many for the first time—without a steady, safe place to live.

The 2009 Homeless Count conducted in January tallied 303 homeless people in Simi Valley— 266 adults and 37 children. Of those, four were unaccompanied youths (without parents) between the ages of 13 and 17.

In addition, 18 families were counted: 10 with two parents and eight with one parent.

Eskey said she sees about 10 to 15 unaccompanied minors at the Samaritan Center each day, most of them living on the street or in the arroyo because their families can’t handle their “erratic” behavior or drug use and kick them out.

She said the center does its best to meet the basic needs of these young people. But now that she knows what is available through McKinney-Vento, Eskey can do more.

Every school district in the county has a liaison who helps identify homeless children and get them services for which they’re eligible. For Simi, that person is Bill Waxman.

According to Waxman, the school district had an influx of 39 new homeless students in the last school year, with a cumulative running total of about 85 homeless students over the past few years.

For these students, the main goal is to make sure they’re quickly and easily assimilated into school without stigma, he said.

“It’s really a concerted effort to make sure all of our school sites don’t put up any unnecessary obstacles for students who come to us,” Waxman said.

As the superintendent of secondary education and homeless liaisons, Waxman said the most difficult part of his job is to make sure the students who need the services are getting them.

“We try to walk that very fine line between embarrassment and antagonism to find out, ‘What’s going on here?’ It’s a very delicate tightrope to walk, but we do our best to be proactive,” he said.

Because homelessness is a sensitive issue, many parents are reluctant to admit that their family is homeless or to ask for help for fear of getting in trouble with Child Protective Services.

However, DarAnn Dearing, child welfare supervisor for the East County region of Children and Family Services, said homelessness is not reason enough to take a child from his or her parents.

“Homelessness in and of itself is not child abuse; it is not neglect,” she said. “We are not trying to take children just for the basic fact that they are homeless.”

To learn more about McKinneyVento or to access services, contact Bill Waxman, homeless liaison, at (805) 306-4573 or Wwaxman@simi.k12.ca.us.

Residents outside of Simi can call the Ventura County Office of Education Homeless Education Project at (805) 437-1525.

Is your child eligible for help?

Your child may be eligible for extra services at school if your family is:

•renting a room or garage from another family

•moving from one family member’s or friend’s house to another

•living in a car or trailer

•living in a motel or hotel

•being evicted from your current housing in the next 30 days

•living in a shelter or transitional housing

•living “doubled up” with another family because of economic hardship

•without housing