children’s understandings and experience of homelessness, with reference to findings from the perspectives of parents and workers. The review also explores the effects of homelessness based on quantitative and qualitative findings. Method: The scope of the literature is wide and includes studies that measure the effects of homelessness on children and identifies the needs of children and families at risk of or experiencing homelessness. A wide range of literature is drawn upon addressing particular themes rather than a systematic approach involving database analyses. While focusing on Australian research literature, Indigenous children are not included, neither are the effects of violence and trauma on children nor service models and practice The authors note the importance and relevance of research in these fields and that an understanding of the conceptions, experience and effects of homelessness on Indigenous children is a matter of great urgency. Findings: The review identified a number of shortfalls and gaps in the prevailing literature including: An absence of children’s perspectives and voices Narrow fields of interest, with studies of physical and mental health, emotional wellbeing, development, behaviour and educational achievement predominating. Gaps in knowledge in relation to children’s understandings of ‘home’ and ‘homelessness’, the experience of homelessness for children from Indigenous and CALD backgrounds, hunger and nutrition, the impact of gender on experience and effects, children’s experiences in homelessness services, and changes to relationships with (including separation from) fathers, friends, siblings, and extended family such as grandparents. For example, there is no research on the effect on relationships and individual wellbeing when siblings are separated or on children’s relationships with fathers who have perpetrated violence after reunification post refuge or emergency accommodation. A lack of evidence around good practice and few programs have been externally evaluated. The absence of studies that evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different housing and support approaches, for example, supported transitional accommodation compared to permanent housing with or without support for families with different needs. A focus on individual and family deficits rather than strengths both in terms of research questions and the interpretation of data. This has resulted in a tendency for studies to conclude psychopathology over short-term adaption to difficult circumstances.
children’s understandings and experience of homelessness, with reference to findings from the perspectives of parents and workers. The review also explores the effects of homelessness based on quantitative and qualitative findings. Method: The scope of the literature is wide and includes studies that measure the effects of homelessness on children and identifies the needs of children and families at risk of or experiencing homelessness. A wide range of literature is drawn upon addressing particular themes rather than a systematic approach involving database analyses. While focusing on Australian research literature, Indigenous children are not included, neither are the effects of violence and trauma on children nor service models and practice The authors note the importance and relevance of research in these fields and that an understanding of the conceptions, experience and effects of homelessness on Indigenous children is a matter of great urgency. Findings: The review identified a number of shortfalls and gaps in the prevailing literature including: An absence of children’s perspectives and voices Narrow fields of interest, with studies of physical and mental health, emotional wellbeing, development, behaviour and educational achievement predominating. Gaps in knowledge in relation to children’s understandings of ‘home’ and ‘homelessness’, the experience of homelessness for children from Indigenous and CALD backgrounds, hunger and nutrition, the impact of gender on experience and effects, children’s experiences in homelessness services, and changes to relationships with (including separation from) fathers, friends, siblings, and extended family such as grandparents. For example, there is no research on the effect on relationships and individual wellbeing when siblings are separated or on children’s relationships with fathers who have perpetrated violence after reunification post refuge or emergency accommodation. A lack of evidence around good practice and few programs have been externally evaluated. The absence of studies that evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different housing and support approaches, for example, supported transitional accommodation compared to permanent housing with or without support for families with different needs. A focus on individual and family deficits rather than strengths both in terms of research questions and the interpretation of data. This has resulted in a tendency for studies to conclude psychopathology over short-term adaption to difficult circumstances.