The Rhode Island Department of Education has adopted Section 725(2) of McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Act regarding the definition of homeless children and youth:
Individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or have a primary nighttime residence in a supervised, publicly or privately, operated shelter for temporary accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill), an institution providing temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or a public or private place not designated for, ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.
You could qualify for this act.
Know your rights - School House Connection
Are you staying in temporary housing?
Do you want your children to stay at their current school?
Are you having trouble enrolling your children in school, or getting them there?
If you are staying temporarily with someone else because you lost your housing, or staying in a motel, campground, shelter, or in an outside or inadequate place, you and your children have special rights at school.
Those rights include:
Staying in the same school even if you move, and receiving transportation to that school, as long as it is in the student’s best interest
Enrolling in school immediately without the documents schools usually require
Receiving free school meals
Getting help with school supplies and other needs
Extra support for youth who are on their own
Help connecting young children with early childhood services
Contact Middletown’s McKinney-Vento Liaison to find out if you qualify for help. Megan Mainzer mmainzer@mpsri.net