Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series examining homelessness among children in Adams County.

NATCHEZ — Currently 80 homeless children receive services from the Natchez-Adams School District, and the schools have identified 200 other potentially homeless students, district Homeless Coordinator Geraldine Geyen said.

But in a district in which nearly 95 percent of the approximately 4,000 students qualify for free and reduced lunches, some school officials said there are likely more than 280 children that would qualify as homeless.

Geyen is one of five employees paid with federal funds whose jobs are to cater to homeless students and their families.

But Geyen said children considered technically homeless might not fit commonly held conceptions of what homeless looks like.

Matilda Stevens, the director of the Sunshine Children’s Shelter said rural homelessness is statistically on the rise.

“But rural homelessness does not look like urban homeless at all,” Stevens said.

Defining child homelessness

Most homeless children in Adams County go to sleep under a roof at night, but the walls that surround them may frequently change.

Geyen said any child without a fixed residence, or those who are living in a temporary or inadequate trailer, in a motel, in a campground or any other place are considered homeless by the U.S. Department of Education.

The most common type of child homelessness in Adams County occurs in situations where families are living “doubled-up” in residences with other friends or relatives, Geyen said.

Geyen said the district has rarely identified an unaccompanied youth, which is a homeless child living without a parent or guardian.

But she said if the district were to encounter an unaccompanied youth, the NASD is required to enroll those children even in the absence of any records such as a birth certificate or proof of residence.

Statewide data

Nearly 13,000 Mississippi children were homeless in 2010, according to a report released this month by the National Center on Family Homelessness.

The report ranks the state 49th in child homelessness, with 50 being the worst.

Only Alabama ranks lower than Mississippi.

The ranking represents four factors — number of homeless children, their well-being and risk for child homelessness and state policy.

The National Center of Family Homelessness found that homeless children are sick four times more often than other children and are three times as likely to have emotional and behavioral problems compared to non-homeless children.

Violence also plays a major role in the lives of most homeless children, according to national data.

By the age of 12, 83 percent of homeless children had been exposed to at least one serious violent event and nearly 25 percent have witnessed acts of violence within their family.

And there are as many causes of homelessness as there are faces.

Causes

Child homelessness can be caused by a number of situations — low or no job income, house fires or other accidents, incarceration of parents, domestic violence, parents with drug problems or family illness.

Monica King, a counselor at McLaurin Elementary School, said dealing with child homelessness is part of her job of looking after the emotional welfare of the third and fourth graders at the school.

The majority of the families in these situations are single-parent families, which King said includes at least two single fathers at McLaurin.

“All (of the situations) have been pretty unique,” King said.

Geyen said the recession has contributed to an increase in the number of homeless children in Adams County.

“Even some of those working with two jobs (can’t afford permanent housing),” Geyen said.

The lack of affordable housing is also a factor, NASD Federal Programs Director Marilyn Alexander-Turner said.

According to the latest figures from the National Center on Family Homelessness, 27 percent of households in Mississippi spend more than half their income on rent.

“Wages aren’t going up, and (parents) can’t afford substantial housing,” Alexander-Turner said.

Minimum wage is $7.25, but statewide data says the income needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment is $12.74.

“People are out of work, losing their homes and they’re single parents,” Geyen said.

Homeless numbers in the Natchez-Adams schools spiked when the flooding of mostly poorer areas in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina brought an onslaught of 600 to 1,000 students to the Natchez school district in 2005, Alexander-Turner said. Many of those students had temporary housing or stayed with relatives and friends.

“Three years ago those families (from New Orleans) stuck around but have (by now) mostly gone back home,” she said.

Many of them spent a year or more in local schools, though.

Academics

Geyen and other school officials said most homeless children struggle academically more than other children because of their unstable home lives.

The district is currently labeled “low performing” based on federal accountability standards under the No Child Left Behind Act and has struggled to make major academic improvements in the past several years.

Administrators, including the former superintendent, have pointed to the high number of homeless students — among other things — as a reason the school struggle to show marked academic improvement.

Part of the federal funding from a $37,000 grant the district has received for the past 10 years pays for tutors for homeless students, to help meet the extra needs of those children.

Geyen said in learning about the variety of causes of homelessness, she believes in a commonly recited phrase.

“We’re all just one incident away from homelessness,” Geyen said.

And whatever the cause may be, the school system is legally obligated to provide every child with a quality education and do its best to give each child a fighting chance to succeed.