Children’s Rights Alliance to highlight harmful impact child homelessness has on education

There are currently 2,895 homeless children in Ireland.

The Children’s Rights Alliance are set to discuss the harmful impact child homelessness has on education tomorrow. The organisation will launch a study on the educational needs of children experiencing homelessness, this Tuesday in Dublin. The study will highlight the harmful impact that homelessness is having on children's everyday school experience, and make recommendations on how the education system can cope. The speakers tomorrow will include Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance and Maeve McCafferty, Primary School Teacher / INTO. Dr Geraldine Scanlon and Grainne McKenna, Researchers, DCU Institute of Education and Noel Kelly, Education Welfare Services, Tusla will also be speaking at the event. Commenting in advance, Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said;

“A good home forms the essential basis that prepares a child to go to school, to learn and to thrive. Emergency accommodation does not provide this foundation, despite the huge efforts of schools and parents. Our event tomorrow will explore the current situation for the nearly 4,000 children who are homeless in Ireland right now and try to find a better way to ensure every child can learn, grow and flourish.”

‘Home Works: A Study on the Educational Needs of Children Experiencing Homelessness and Living in Emergency Accommodation’ was commissioned by the Children's Rights Alliance with support from The Community Foundation for Ireland, Tomar Trust, Pobal and the Department of Rural and Community Development. Grainne McKenna and Dr Geraldine Scanlon from the DCU Institute of Education conducted the study and will present their findings at the launch. The housing crisis in Ireland is worse than ever with more and more families being pushed out privately rented homes but unable to obtain social housing. A home and an education is a basic human right and one that all children should have access to. In a first world country like Ireland, it is shocking that families with young children are still finding themselves living in hotel rooms or out of their cars. Hopefully the event tomorrow will help solve some of these problems and ensure all children in Ireland have full access to an education.