The Whole Child: Family Homelessness In Los Angeles County

For any mother the birth of a newborn child can be a challenging experience. As nurses it is part of our job to ensure their experience is positive. We can help do this by providing the information they will need to affective care for their newborn. This information includes topics such as, breastfeeding, jaundice, when to call your doctor and even how to put your baby to sleep. When the parents have an understanding of these topics before discharge it can largely reduce their natural anxiety accompanied with the transition to parenthood. Health teaching for new parents is seen as such an important aspect of care on post-partum floors it is actually a necessary component that needs to be covered before the hospital can discharge the

The state of California has an enormous amount of homeless people. The homeless population consists of individuals that do not have housing, money, food, and even everyday necessities. Also, there are many homeless veterans in C.A. who previously served for the country. Homelessness is a major health concern and issue that affects a person’s physical, mental, and social well being. Since homelessness is a major issue in C.A. there are policies and programs to assist those in need.

Infant-toddler centers are about more than just feeding, changing and sleeping. There are many reasons why quality infant-toddler care and education are vital to children’s healthy development and learning. 61% of children are in childcare at a time where the brain is developing based on their environment (Laureate Education, 2008). Quality care promotes peer relationships by giving infants and toddlers access to environments and opportunities for socialization, problem-solving, empathy building, sharing, and relating (Gonzalez-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 2015). We also meet the needs of infants and toddlers cognitive, language, and social and emotional development through being relationships and responsive caregivers.

The Program for Infant/Toddler Care seeks to ensure that America's infants get a safe, healthy, emotionally secure and intellectually rich start in life. Its three-pronged mission is to

“Over the last 20 years, studies have estimated that between 25 and 60% of youth in the United States are exposed to child maltreatment or other traumatic events. Although many youth demonstrate resilience after trauma exposure, others who have been exposed to traumatic events demonstrate disruptions in their healthy development, and these concerns may continue into adolescence and adulthood. After experiencing traumatic events, youth and their families may become involved with several different child-service systems, including the child welfare juvenile justice, and mental health systems. However, these systems have historically provided services without regard to, or conscious practice associated with, the high rates of trauma exposure of youth served” (Donisch, Bray, and Gewirtz, 2016).

According to the Coalition of the Homeless in August 2016, there were 15,501 homeless families with 23,929 homeless children sleeping in the NYC shelter system. There have been protests in many of these communities where shelters have been emerging to cater to the needs of our homelessness crisis, wanting the shelters out of their neighborhoods, as well as the children who reside in these shelters who attend the schools in the community. These children face the struggle and hardship of homelessness in addition to the stigma of being outcasts in these schools and communities. This has a traumatic impact on the child, affecting their self confidence and self-esteem. According to the Department of Education, 60% of students that live in the shelter

There’s a common misconception that homelessness is an issue that only affects single men and woman, but in reality thousands of families will experience homelessness. In fact, 41% of the homeless population is comprised of families (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2007). Homelessness is a severely distressing experience for families and can damage family relationships sometimes resulting is the separation of the parents. It isn’t good for children either since it can hinder their development and education.

We have also recognized that our calls are not answered, are questions are answered vaguely and we lack sufficient professional communication on their part. Even though we are not gaining anything from this failed attempts, the hospital is recognizing the growing interest in their untimely changes to the birthing classes. We believe developing a connection with other supporting organizations such as moms club, breastfeeding support groups, infant mortality groups, as well as everyday parents will help influence change as well.

Improved coping and organizational skills, as well as a heightened perception of the benefits of care, may enhance the ability of these mothers to prioritize preventative health care and actively seek it for their infants.” The findings demonstrate that outreach intervention or child-rearing program can often improve the coping and organizational skills of inexperienced mothers with limited resources, improving the healthy growth potential of infants and mitigating harm to their child. It might be prudent to take note that not all people require the same level of outreach intervention. Although everyone can benefit from a child-rearing course, it has been shown that certain demographics may require more extensive education and support in order to successfully raise a child.

According to recent reports child homelessness, an estimated 2.5 million children are homeless in the United States. Sadly, nearly half of these children are under the age of five. In fact, one in every thirty children is considered homeless and the numbers continue to increase annually (Bassuk, E., DeCandia, C., Beach, C., & Berman, F., 2014) Though many factors contribute to this social epidemic, the high poverty rate, lack of affordable housing and single parent households are the most notable influences nationally. The most vulnerable of the population are African American and Hispanic single mothers with poor education (Bassuk, E.et al. ,2014 ) . These families tend to have low paying jobs, live in dangerous neighborhoods and have unreliable transportation. With limited resources available to sustain economic security, families become homeless and the children suffer the consequences.

These services can include case management, medication monitoring, life skills training, access to health and behavioral health care, transportation to and from appointments, vocational services, and life skills training." As mention above, the need for a permanent housing shelter is necessary and should be top priority. One cannot solve the homelessness issue unless one doesn’t figure out the cause and solve

There are many reasons why families of all different economic classes should involve themselves in combating homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless states that “there is a common misconception that homelessness is an issue that only pertains to single men and women, but in reality thousands of families a year will experience homelessness” (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). While you might not be experiencing homelessness yourself at this moment, there is always a chance in the future, you might experience it or know someone that is homeless and by knowing the information you can help yourself or help others.

After speaking with Teresa Posada, Director and Lead Educator for Yakima Memorial Hospital’s Birth Education Department, she has agreed to allow me to attend and observe one, Child Birth Education Course. This course is typically 8 hours in length and occurs over the span of one day. During our conversation, she understood my background in early intervention experience (which spans over fifteen years) my undergraduate education, and that I was working toward my Graduate degree in Family and Human Development. We spoke loosely about my interest in attachment and prenatal support. She appeared excited to hear of my passions and how I wish to use them in our valley.

The unemployed and homeless families play a part in our struggling society. Children from these families are more likely to have health issues and not attend school regularly. They are more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems, as well as, learning disabilities. If their families find jobs, they are usually the jobs that are eliminated first when the economy is not doing very well. The McKinney-Vento Act passed in 1987 made schools provide protection to children who are in this situation. The McKinney-Veto Act raised school attendance from 25% to 85%.

environments that support healthy choices. The movement is also providing healthier lunches and tries to ensure that every family has access to healthy, affordable food and helps kids become more physically active.