Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress

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Congress makes the following findings: Homelessness among children and youth in public schools has increased by 57 percent during the period since 2006. Among homeless children living in shelters supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 50 percent are under 5 years old. A 2010 study by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that children who had received high-quality care in the first few years of life scored higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement when the children were 19 years old, and were less likely to misbehave, than children who had been enrolled in low-quality care in those years.

Homelessness has a negative impact on child development that surpasses the harmful impacts of poverty. A Head Start demonstration project serving homeless families indicated that the homeless children served had more instances of developmental delay, learning disabilities, and physical or mental health problems, compared with their low-income peers in stable housing. For homeless families, residential instability, high mobility, documentation requirements, and lack of transportation are significant obstacles to accessing and retaining child care services.

According to a study by the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, homeless families are less likely to receive government financial assistance for child care than families that are not homeless. Without child care, homeless parents of young children struggle to search for employment, maintain employment, and enter job training programs. Many parents who are domestic violence survivors who flee their homes try to find employment, but the parents are often limited by a lack of child care.

In a survey of nearly 1,500 domestic violence survivors in domestic violence shelters, 29 percent indicated that they needed help with child care. In school year 2006–2007 there were 22,650 homeless families served by Head Start programs, and in school year 2011–2012 there were 49,164 homeless families served by Head Start programs. The number of homeless families being served by Head Start programs has more than doubled in the past 5 years It is the sense of Congress that— Congress has enacted successful policies to increase homeless children's access to and stability in public elementary and secondary schools and Head Start programs; and in order to increase homeless families' access to and continuity in child care, similar policies should be applied to Federal child care programs; and such policies will assist homeless parents in maintaining employment and regaining housing, and will provide critical interventions to support that vulnerable population of children.