A Glimpse into the Lives of Mothers and their Children in a Homeless Shelter: What has Changed Over the Decades?

Although there are rough estimates regarding the number of homeless people in America, no one knows the exact figures (Katz, 1989; Burt & Cohen, 1989a). Katz correctly pointed out that counting the homeless is difficult for several reasons, including their constant mobility. Some people are homeless for only a very short time so that “the number of homeless in the course of a year far exceeds the number without a shelter on any given night” (Katz, p. 187). However, Wright (1998) noted that currently there are approximately 4 million female-headed households in the United States who are living below the poverty line. If we count both the mothers and their children, this population totals around 12 million persons who are living in poverty homes headed by women.

Implications for research and education of children in shelters will also be explored.

The study utilized qualitative research methods to gain understandings of literacy experiences of children at a residential shelter. Qualitative research is an umbrella which covers several forms of “inquiry that help us understand and explain the meaning of social phenomena with as little disruption of the natural setting as possible” (Merriam, 1998, p. 5).