Proposed Head Start changes would eliminate slots for Virginia children experiencing homelessness

Pending changes to Head Start initiated by President Donald Trump’s administration could make it harder for Virginia families to utilize the program, including those whose families lack permanent shelter. 

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposal would eliminate a rule that allows Head Start centers to reserve admission spots for homeless students and those in the foster care system. Currently, about 3% of slots are reserved for such families. 

Additionally, families would lose the ability to self-affirm they are homeless.

Lawrence Howerton, an outreach coordinator and Medicaid application assistant at the nonprofit Virginia Organizing, didn’t realize he was technically homeless during part of his childhood. 

His mother and siblings had been living in “a back room” in his uncle’s house. 

“We didn’t have a key, we had to be let in,” he said. 

The family wasn’t living on the streets or sleeping in shelters, but they lacked a stable home. Instability in his formative years, he believes, is what contributed to his juvenile incarceration. 

Now as an adult, he helps similarly struggling families and is concerned the proposed rule could harm children already living in tough circumstances. 

Virginia Head Start Association director Dawn Ault is also worried about the proposed rule, including how it would eliminate self-affirmation of homelessness. She said there’s no clear way for such families to prove their circumstances. 

“I don’t understand what kind of flexibility they’re going to allow programs in determining if someone’s homeless if they’re not allowed to self-identify that,” she said. 

Ault suggested that programs could still utilize the McKinney-Vento definitions of homelessness, which stems from a 1987 law Congress passed to ensure housing-unstable children could enroll in schools despite lacking a fixed address or certain paperwork. 

The measure is meant to aid children sleeping in cars, homes of friends or family — like what Howerton experienced — living in motels, campgrounds, homeless shelters or sleeping in public spaces. 

“It does say it allows programs flexibility in documenting how they’re homeless, but they don’t give any specific information on what it is that families would have to produce,” Ault said. “If this were to be placed as in the final rule, then we need to seek more guidance on what exactly is the ‘flexibility’ in documenting homelessness.”

Though the rule would drop the requirement to reserve slots for homeless families, she added that providers could still choose to reserve space. 

“We still hope and want all programs to still function under the current regulations because that’s what’s been proven and with our data to be in the best interest for children and families,” she said.

Head Start programs occupy a multifaceted role in public service to families. The early childhood education program starts ahead of formal K-12 school and functions as a childcare option for working parents.

Head Start also exposes children to healthy habits, and staff serve as what Howerton calls “identifiers.” 

Instructors can spot children that show early signs of learning disabilities, behavioral health problems, underlying health conditions, or side effects of unstable home lives and offer them specialized attention and support. 

The proposal would also remove regulatory references to health, mental health, dental care and developmental screenings. 

Howerton said if he’d been part of Head Start as a youth, it might have helped deter him from the “school to prison pipeline.” His experience drives his efforts to assist families around the South Boston area of Virginia, where he is based. 

“It’s poor communities that are being attacked,” he said. 

With 11,000 funded Head Start and Early Head Start spaces for children under five in Virginia, the program supports families whose earnings fall below the federal poverty line (which is currently around $30,000 per year for a family of four).

The program also supports families undergoing sudden life transitions. 

Nottoway County mother Amanda Daugherty relied on Head Start after the death of her husband while she worked to support her family. 

“Our local agency … wrapped their arms around me. I had no family here, nothing,” Daugherty previously told The Mercury. 

Beyond adjustments to how families without stable housing access the program, the Trump administration’s proposed rule pares roughly 130 pages of Head Start regulation down to 10, Ault said. 

Broadly, it would eliminate classroom ratios and group-size limits, reduce requirements for serving children with disabilities and multilingual learners, as well as cap administrative spending for the program. 

With the homeless population one piece of the “mammoth puzzle,” Ault said that providers are watching closely for how to navigate changes. 

Public comment for the proposed changes closed on Oct. 6, with over 40,000 submissions from people and organizations nationwide. Many comments either expressed opposition to the proposed changes or offered praise for the support the program provides. 

“When given early access to therapies and services, it significantly reduces the overall healthcare and government spending because families have what they need right away,” a Pennsylvania-based occupational therapist wrote. 

“Families benefit from this care and are less likely to need services when they’re done with us, because they feel prepared and educated on what to do without support.” 

The deluge of feedback is a good thing, Ault said. 

Still, she said, “the question is about funding down the line, because if things are no longer required, will the administration continue to fund  what we currently have?”