Skip To Main Content

McKinney Vento

Rights of Children & Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, a Federal Law, the Dresden School District is responsible for providing certain services to children and unaccompanied youth (children living apart from a parent or legal guardian) who are considered homeless.

Homeless children are entitled to a free and appropriate education, the same as all other students in the district. No student will be stigmatized or segregated because they are homeless. 

The term "homeless children and youth" is defined by Federal Law as:
  • individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and includes
    • children and youths who are sharing housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason
      • are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations
      • are living in emergency or transitional shelters
      • or are abandoned in hospitals
    • children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C)
    • children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations or similar settings

Migrant children who live in any of the situations described above qualify as homeless.