Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the initial program evaluation of a collaborative community project developed to promote the mental health and development of children experiencing family homelessness. Community Action Targeting Children who are Homeless (CATCH) is a multicomponent project that seeks to promote the well-being of homeless children by (a) coordinating and integrating shelter and community services for families without homes (community level), (b) changing the structure, policies, and practices of shelters to better support families (shelter level), (c) enhancing parenting to strengthen parent–child relationships (family level), and (d) assessing children’s mental health and development to inform referrals for appropriate community services (child level). Outcomes at each tier of support are described, along with recommendations to improve the project moving forward and policy implications of the findings.
Author Note
Project CATCH has been funded by grants and support from John Rex Foundation, Wake County Smart Start, The Salvation Army of Wake County, AJ Fletcher Foundation, and United Way of the Greater Triangle, NC.
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Haskett, M.E., Tisdale, J., Leonard Clay, A. (2017). Interagency Collaboration to Promote Mental Health and Development of Children Experiencing Homelessness. In: Haskett, M. (eds) Child and Family Well-Being and Homelessness. SpringerBriefs in Psychology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50886-3_6
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