Many women in the study were worried
about the consequences of their
homelessness for their children.
Image: iStockphoto
A new Australian study of homeless families has found women caring for children face a dreadful dilemma of wanting to access services for help but fearing the request could result in their children being taken away from them.
The study by Melbourne-based homeless agency Hanover and Swinburne University has found homeless women faced the risk of child protection officers removing their children, or ex-partners using their plight to take custody of them.
Hanover chief executive officer, Tony Keenan said the study - ‘The Right To Belong: Family Homelessness and Citizenship’ - was one of the few outside America and Britain to ask what it’s like to be homeless. Australia had 26 790 homeless families at the last census, most made up of women and children escaping domestic violence.
“Most of the women spoke in some way or another about the pressures of caring as a result of their homelessness and their fear of the consequences of not providing suitable housing and the right living environment for their children,” he said.
According to Swinburne Associate Professor Kathleen Hulse, who co-authored the study, homeless women with children are in a double bind.
“They fear that if they seek help, their homelessness may be taken as evidence that they cannot look after their children. If they don’t seek help and struggle on alone, they may not get the help that they need,” she said.
The study, which involved lengthy interviews with women in transitional housing in Melbourne’s western and outer south-eastern suburbs, also showed that women were extremely concerned about the way being homeless affected their children.
“In some cases, women would go to extraordinary lengths to keep their children at the same school or kinder until they could return to some sort of stability,” Keenan said.
He also said that for these women, homelessness was associated with loss or fear of the loss of their kids in a very real sense.
One study participant referred to as ‘Christine’ told researchers she fled her temporary flat because a friend warned she might have her two daughters taken away.
Another woman, ‘Shelley’ said she nearly slept in a toilet block with her two young children before finally deciding to contact a welfare agency.
According to the researchers, for many women living in crisis accommodation, with family or friends, rooming houses or in caravans, repeated attempts to provide a safe and stable home for their children eroded their self-confidence and self-esteem.
“A striking finding of the research was that the women with children felt that their experience of homelessness had diminished their sense of belonging; some felt that they did not belong anywhere any more,” Hulse said.
According to Keenan the next stage of the study funded by the Australian Research Council would be expanded to include homeless teenagers and families in outer Melbourne and regional areas.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. The full report is available here.
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