New Research on Homelessness and Parenting

For mental health and substance abuse counselors and clinicians, keeping at-risk families together can be a challenge in the best of circumstances. If parents and children are experiencing homelessness, the challenge is even greater. Yet prior research on homelessness has focused only minimally on families and the role of parenting.

 

To help, SAMHSA’s Homelessness Resource Center (HRC) recently guest-edited a Special Section of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Released in October 2009, all 10 articles are downloadable at no charge from the HRC Web site. (See below for more information.)

This Special Section fills a significant gap. The research articles and editorials provide important insights into the needs of parents and children who are experiencing homelessness.

“Our goal on this project was to offer cutting-edge research and information,” said Deborah Stone, Ph.D., SAMHSA’s HRC Project Officer at the Homeless and Co-Occurring Programs Branch at SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). “We wanted to bring up some of the issues people are talking about. In the past, CMHS focused primarily on the chronically homeless individual. However, we decided to expand that focus and look at families—because in the field service providers work with families as well as individuals.”

Read more online at:  http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsaNewsletter/Volume_17_Number_6/HomelessnessParenting.aspx