one must view the causes and outcomes of homelessness within the broader framework of a complex web of causation.” On the level of the microsystem, she examines the issues of poor health, environmental hazards, deprivational surroundings, discontinued school attendance, and lack of privacy that accompany life on the streets or in temporary shelters. All of these factors interact with one another and accumulate at the level of the mesosystem. At the level of the exosystem, Whitman explains that the parents themselves are usually unemployed, uneducated, and under emotional distress, causing their interaction with their children to be less than optimal. When homeless parents are under the stress of meeting physical survival needs, their children’s developmental issues are not a priority. (Again, the exosystem is composed of elements which indirectly influence the child). Finally, at the level of the macrosystem, stereotyping and labeling of children by professionals results in attention problems and learning disabilities going untreated, as they are incorrectly attributed to the child’s homelessness. As Whitman aptly states, “the solutions are not simple, nor is homelessness the only issue.” Many of the solutions she suggests, which are also endorsed by Sherman, must operate at the level of the exosystem, in the form of community organizations and services. There is an obvious need for more low-income permanent housing units, and a more adequate supply of decent temporary shelter, so that families and children do not need to live on the streets. Whitman also argues that the provision of such shelters is “doomed to failure if unaccompanied by educational, vocational, medical, and emotional support, as well as support in parenting.” Whitman’s solution thus draws on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model by targeting several areas of both the exo- and micro- systems, in order to e...
