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Housing Instability Hurts Students

When a family is unsure about where they’ll live in the next few months or faces hurdles in meeting basic needs, children’s health and performance at school can begin to deteriorate. Unstable living conditions and lack of affordable housing options for our community hurts us all. According to the recent Children’s HealthWatch, “…We know children and families in stable, affordable homes arehealthier than those who struggle to afford their basic needs, like rent, food and utilities. Unstable housing is a preventable condition.”

Learn more about how health and education are systematically connected to affordable housing in the latest report from the Children’s HealthWatch.

Supporting a Student’s Bright Future

After finding himself in a bit of trouble, 17 year-old Miguel began attending the probation-court run school. It wasn’t long before Miguel found himself growing increasingly frustrated. The school was small, the staff was strict, and he had been there most of his junior year of high school. Making matters worse, he had a severe processing disability that made school difficult to understand. Luckily, Miguel and his family found the Law Foundation.

Miguel’s mother started working with one of our attorneys who began reviewing Miguel’s records. A Spanish-speaking social worker from our team planned to attend Miguel’s support team meeting at his school to help interpret for Miguel’s mother. When our social worker arrived to the meeting, she quickly discovered that it was actually an IEP meeting! Taking this surprise in stride, our social worker advocated for Miguel’s wishes: to return to a mainstream high school.

Our attorney and social worker also coordinated meetings at the home and facilitated a meeting between the school district and Miguel’s mother to ensure that everyone understood Miguel’s needs. Together, our team created a goal for Miguel: if he stayed at the probation-court run school and made efforts on his attendance and course work through the last few weeks of the calendar year, he could return to his regular local high school the following month.

Through the support of our attorney and social worker, Miguel successfully transitioned to his local high school in the New Year. The following few months were met with good news; the principal at Miguel’s new school informed our team that he actually had enough credits to graduate at the end of the school year, with the rest of his classmates.

Overjoyed, Miguel’s mother invited our attorney and social worker to his graduation for their part in helping Miguel reach this important milestone. Without our advocacy for the proper educational environment to support Miguel, he might not have had his needs met under the law and may have grown too frustrated to finish school. Earlier this summer, our team loudly cheered Miguel on as he walked across the stage, beaming with pride to accept his diploma.