title: Homeless Children and Their Families' Perspectives of Agency Services.
abstract: While numerous programs aim to mediate the risks for children experiencing homelessness, there is a lack of research representing the children's and parents' perspectives in supportive housing programs. With this phenomenological qualitative study, the authors share the voices of 22 participants, including children and their families, regarding their experiences while receiving services from a homeless agency. Participating parents perceived that the program provided resources to the children that they could not provide themselves, opportunities for exposure to positive new experiences, and improved psychosocial outcomes for their children. Participants also discussed desired program changes and the responsiveness of agency staff regarding unmet needs of the children. Implications for policies and programs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology and Counseling, Governors State University, 1 University Parkway, University Park, IL, 60484, USA. slorelle@govst.edu.
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lorelle
authors.affiliation: Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grothaus
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005260:Female; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000523:psychology*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: Children; Homeless agency; Homelessness; Poverty