How Schools Can Help
Kids who flee their homes to avoid domestic violence will often end up homeless. These children face many challenges. Boys and girls who must leave violent homes are more likely than their peers to experience emotional and behavioral troubles. They are more apt to engage in physical or emotional bullying, or conversely, be victimized by bullies. Child victims of domestic violence lose much of their capacity to concentrate and thereby learn. Their trust in adults has been damaged, and can take months, sometimes years to restore. On top of the immediate effects of homelessness due to violence, children face increased risk of developmental and physical impairment. Limited nutrition and poor health care are just two of the many instances that are a direct result of homelessness. It is a severely stressful situation for children to leave not only the abusive parent, but their homes, their pets, their belongings, and their familiar neighb...