Homeless children 'don’t get counted, so they don’t count', conference told

Dr Rory Hearne said 759 families presented as homeless across the country in six months of this year, with a likely impact on more than 1,400 children. File picture: Jim Coughlan.

The number of children presenting as homeless is not being accurately gauged because of hidden homelessness.

A conference has also heard the true cost of the crisis on children is not being fully valued.

Dr Rory Hearne of the Department of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University, said the impact of homelessness on children: "If they don’t get counted, they don’t count."

He made his comments at an event organised by the Prevention and Early Intervention Network, which also heard from Imelda Graham, a learning consultant, that children in homeless and emergency accommodation don’t have opportunities to play, which affects their development. She gave the example where children who do not engage in messy play have trouble toilet-training and bodily autonomy.

Anne Coupofoulos, a British academic and dietitian, described how mothers' roles "unravel", as they can’t cook for and nurture their children, with pregnant women in homeless accommodation at risk of malnourishment.

In his presentation, entitled 'The invisible children: homelessness, insecure housing and trauma in children affected by the housing crisis in Ireland', Dr Hearne highlighted what he said was the invisibility of children in homeless statistics.

Referring to the scale of house loss in research supported by Irish Research Council New Foundations, he said nationally in the first six months of this year, 1,382 families presented as homeless and so experienced point of loss of home, or loss of home, which he said was a "serious housing trauma".

"That is likely to be almost 3,000 children in just six months experiencing some aspect of house loss, homelessness," he said. 

"We can see here that there is no measurement or presentation of the data of the number of children with these families experiencing this. So this data for children is missing. 

It shows the failure to include and value and measure children experiencing homelessness at a national level."

He said 759 families presented as homeless across the country in six months of this year, with a likely impact on more than 1,400 children, which he said begged a number of questions, such as how many children went in and out of emergency accommodation, and how many experienced emergency accommodation.

He estimated that in the past two and a half years in Dublin, some 3,909 families presented as homeless, with 8,208 children experiencing some aspect of homelessness trauma.

He said homelessness was clearly an adverse childhood experience and added: "If we know its so bad why are we not tracking to respond and provide a tailored response?

"Yet we do not identify these as an at-risk group — not counted — if not counted they are not supported or prioritised in policy response.

"Families and children homeless need specific policy intervention, specific plan and strategy, specific intervention. Each family, each child, measured, tracked, followed up, screened, assessed, and offered appropriate tailored support."

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The Prevention and Early Intervention Network’s national co-ordinator, Dr Maria O’Dwyer, said: "Secure tenancy and timely, accessible supports are key for children and families at risk of homelessness. 

"Emergency accommodation is a harrowing experience that uproots children from everything that is familiar. Political will and ring-fenced budgets for prevention are key to ensuring that every child has a place that they know as home."