The document discusses many challenges that students may face at home including homelessness, teen parenthood, legal or criminal issues affecting family members, work-related problems, lack of parental education, and lack of value placed on education. It notes that over 1 million students were homeless in 2012 and issues like these can make it difficult for children to receive educational services and communicate with parents. It emphasizes that teachers should recognize each child's individual needs, communicate with caregivers, and refer children to additional resources and supports as needed. The overall well-being and educational success of students is impacted by their home environments and family situations.

1. Not Quite
Happily Ever
After
• All family situations are
not fairy tales….

2. Many at home scenarios can cause
undesirable situations that affect the
student’s abilities in school and their services
• Homelessness
• Teen Parents
• Legal or Criminal Issues
• Work Related Factors
• Education
• All these factors can make it
difficult for a child to effectively
receive their services in school and
also difficult to communicate with
parents who may have other
worries in their life.

3. Fear, uncertainty, hunger,
instability, and parents who may
be worried about
survival…these are the issues
educators face with the,
“1,168,354 students enrolled in
American preschools and K-12
schools were homeless in 2012.
The number is a 10 percent
increase from the previous year,
and a nearly 75 percent
increase since the recession
began.”

4. The future does
not hold an end to
homelessness. In
fact as current
trends continue,
instructors can
expect to see a
rising struggle with
these students.
•

5. Recognize the needs of the
individual child.
Communicate with the
caregiver. Remember to
refer to additional
resources for the child. An
educational crises may not
be an immediate focus for
the family, make sure you
share any concerns with
anyone who can help the
child. Guardians, school
counselors, and principals
can be excellent resources.
"If we wish to
prevent another
generation of
children from
becoming homeless
adults, we must
meet their basic
needs and ensure a
stable, supportive
school
environment.”

6. Teenagers…every single one of
them….a little fact that is
conveniently forgotten…

7. Teen Parents
Children with teen parents face a myriad of possible
problems:
Lack of parental knowledge
Lack of support in the home
Possible unstable home life
Many times single parent household
Lack of financial support
Lack of parental education
Lack of parental support system that is needed to extend
to the child

8. Only 77% of children born to teen parents will receive a high school diploma compared to 89% of children
born to older parent
23,600 or 5% of children born to teen mothers will end up in foster care, partly due to higher rates of abuse
Consistent contraceptive use is less likely among children of teen parents, who are more likely to be
sexually active by age 14. As a result, these children are at higher risk of becoming teen parents
themselves

9. Remember, no matter what grade level you may be
teaching, children born to teen parents have needs
that extend through their own teen years. They
have high risk of becoming teen parents themselves
and of incompletion of high school.
Recognize the needs of the individual child.
Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to refer
to additional resources for the child. An educational
crises may not be an immediate focus for the family,
make sure you share any concerns with anyone who
can help the child. Guardians, school counselors, and
principals can be excellent resources.

10. Everyone has a skeleton
or two in their family
tree…but sometimes they
can interfere with a
student’s ability to focus
on education.
Legal or Criminal Issues do not
just impact the adults in the
family, children are greatly
affected by incarcerated
parents or siblings, as well as
those with other legal
problems.

11. Separation due to a parent’s
incarceration can be as
painful as other forms of
parental loss and can be even
more complicated because of
the stigma, ambiguity, and
lack of social support and
compassion that
accompanies it
More than 2.7 million children
in the U.S. have an
incarcerated parent and
approximately
10 million children have
experienced parental
incarceration at some point in
their lives
International human
rights advocates have
called parental
incarceration "the
greatest threat to child
well-being in the U.S."
A national study conducted in
1998 estimated that of parents
arrested, 67% were handcuffed
in front of their children, 27%
reported weapons drawn in front
of their children, 4.3% reported a
physical struggle, and 3.2%
reported the use of pepper spray

12. A misperception exists that
children of incarcerated
parents are more likely to be
incarcerated than their peers,
and are predisposed to
criminal activity. There is no
basis for this in existing
research
Recognize the needs of the individual child.
Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to refer
to additional resources for the child. An educational
crises may not be an immediate focus for the family,
make sure you share any concerns with anyone who
can help the child. Guardians, school counselors, and
principals can be excellent resources.

13. There are many different work
issues a family can face….
-Lack of a job
-Interruption of employment
-Change of Income
-Parents numerous jobs
-Stress carry over to home
-Lack of time for the family
Students whose teachers reported higher
levels of parental involvement were more
likely to graduate high school or earn a
GED than peers whose parents were not
so involved, and those who did not
graduate were more likely to have
completed a higher grade in high school.
The more years a parent was involved,
the greater was this association with
educational attainment

14. Parents Matter
to All Children
The greater the fathers’ involvement
was, the lower the level of adolescents’
behavioral problems, both in terms of
aggression and antisocial behavior and
negative feelings such as anxiety,
depression, and low selfesteem.
Fathers’ involvement was measured by
the frequency with which fathers
discussed important decisions with and
listened to their adolescents, whether
fathers knew who their adolescents
were with when not at home, and
whether fathers missed events or
activities that were important to their
adolescents. Other measures included
as adolescents’ reports of closeness to
their fathers, whether their fathers
spent sufficient time with them, and
how well they shared and
communicated with one another.
On average, youths whose fathers
engage in leisure and educational
activities with them achieve better
grades than peers whose fathers
spend less time with them. Pre-teens
whose fathers spent leisure time away
from the home (picnics, movies, sports,
etc.) with them, shared meals with them,
helped with homework or reading, and
engaged in other home activities with
them earned better grades in school, on
average, than peers whose fathers spent
less time with them. Similarly, teens
whose fathers engaged in activities in the
home and outdoors, spent leisure time,
and talked with them earned better
grades, on average, than teens whose
fathers spent less time with them

15. Remember, financial situations may not
be the only factor in a work related
family issue. If a parent is
absentee…no matter where they are,
they can cause adverse reactions on
their child’s education. Educational
issues are typically associated with
lower socioeconomic issues, but
children are at risk with parent’s whose
jobs, or lack thereof, interferes with
their education.
Recognize the needs of the
individual child. Communicate with
the caregiver. Remember to refer to
additional resources for the child.
An educational crises may not be an
immediate focus for the family, make
sure you share any concerns with
anyone who can help the child.
Guardians, school counselors, and
principals can be excellent
resources.

16. Education can actually interfere with
education…There are numerous
factors. The first and most obvious,
a lack of valued education in the
home. If a student’s family does not
value education, the student
themselves will not value it either.
Parents may seem uninterested in
“school issues” if they do not feel the
education is important. This can
cause a life-long hindrance to the
child, as they struggle to find the
balance between home and school.

17. Students with Parents
who
Value Education
•Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level
programs
•Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits
•Attend school regularly
•Have better social skills, show improved behavior, and
adapt well to school
•Graduate and go on to postsecondary education

18. Parents may value education, but
not understand their
roles…schools can help parents
learn what they can do to help
and why it is important to the
success of their child.
The entire IEP process may be
a challenge for some parents.
The teacher may need to
educate the parents about their
rights and abilities for planning
and executing an IEP.
Teachers may need to offer
additional support to teach
special needs parents what they
can do at home to help their
child. There is a lot of learning
that occurs at home!

19. A Special Education Teacher once shared the story with me of a
student she had on her caseload. This student had two
cardiothoracic surgeons for parents, and three brilliant siblings.
This child barely qualified for services, and only with strong pushing
by the parents, who did not understand why their athletic child, was
simply not an “A” student like his siblings…. Here, the high
education of his family made the student seem inadequate. While
rare, cases like this, where strengths of the student should be
encouraged, may help the parents realize where their expectations
for the child should lie. As a teacher, it would not be my place to tell
parents what they should/should not do. But I can encourage the
student to expand their skill strengths, while helping them in areas
that have begun to struggle in.
Recognize the needs of the individual
child. Communicate with the caregiver.
Remember to refer to additional resources
for the child. An educational crises may
not be an immediate focus for the family,
make sure you share any concerns with
anyone who can help the child.
Guardians, school counselors, and
principals can be excellent resources.

20. Recognize the needs of the individual child.
Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to
refer to additional resources for the child. An
educational crises may not be an immediate
focus for the family, make sure you share any
concerns with anyone who can help the child.
Guardians, school counselors, and principals can
be excellent resources.
Are you beginning to see a
theme?

21. Each Child is an Individual….
• NO matter what their back story…
• Their socioeconomic background….
• Their family situation….
• Rich or Poor…. Involved Parents…Parents that Ignore…
• Busy Lifestyles…. Nothing fun to do….
• Each child has one thing in common…. Their reason for being in your
classroom
• How do we look at room of students….each one so different yet the same?
How do we help that many kids? It seems like an overwhelming task for one
teacher!

22. Recognize the needs of the individual
child. Communicate with the caregiver.
Remember to refer to additional
resources for the child. An educational
crises may not be an immediate focus for
the family, make sure you share any
concerns with anyone who can help the
child. Guardians, school counselors, and
principals can be excellent resources.
Not every child will be in
crisis. Not every child will
need personal intervention.
As teachers we need to be
ready to recognize that do
need us!

23. When we recognize
struggles, we can help
students find their
happily every education
after….

24. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/201
3/10/25/number-of-homeless-students-has-
soared-since-the-recession-began
http://www.healthyteennetwork.org
http://www.osborneny.org/images/uploads
/printMedia/Initiative%20CIP%20Stats_
Fact%20Sheet.pdf
http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/40/parent
al-involvement-and-childrens-well-being
http://www.nea.org/tools/17360.htm