Homeless Services – McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ensures educational rights and protections for children and youth experiencing homelessness.  All decisions regarding homeless children and youth are made in accordance with what is the best decision for the student.

MCKINNEY-VENTO DEFINITION OF HOMELESS
42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)

The term “homeless children and youth”—

(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence...; and

(B) includes —

(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic harship, 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; or are awaiting foster care placement;

(ii) 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...;

(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

(iv) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) hrough (iii).

HOMELESS STUDENT ENROLLMENT

Students who are experiencing homelessness are to be enrolled immediately. Districts cannot require students experiencing homelessness to provide proof of residency, immunizations, birth certifcates, guardianship documents, or any other sort of required paperwork before enrolling. Requiring missing paperwork or any other delay to enrollment is a violation of the McKinney-Vento Act.

Resources 

Paris Lamar County Health District

Website

400 W. Sherman, Paris, Texas 75460

903-785-4561

Downtown Food Pantry

Website

124 W. Cherry St., Paris, Texas 75460

903-737-8870

Health and Family Services Directory

Texas Homeless Education Office

The Northeast Texas Workforce Solution has shared THIS INFORMATION regarding child care for this summer.

Texas Homeless Education Office

1-800-466-3142

Chisum ISD Homeless Liaison 

Cheryl Garrison

cheryl.garrison@chisumisd.org

903-737-2830