Homeless children: coping with material losses

This study is part of a year long ethnographic investigation of a shelter for homeless women. The children who also live at this facility are accompanied by their mothers and other siblings and acclimate quickly to the shelter environment. However, the loss of cherished possessions due to their homeless condition as well as the inherent instability and uncertainty in their living arrangement lead these children to seek to restore a sense of self through friendships and fantasies. Social policy implications for improving their lives are briefly described. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
The problem of homelessness has become one of the most compelling social dilemmas of the last decade (King et al. 1989). This sub-population has become increasingly diverse (Hill and Stamey [...]