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115 446..482 “You Just Gotta Do It, ’Cause Those are Your Kids”: Survival Parenting and Rural Homelessness Timothy P. Hilton and Deanna L. Trella This research identifies patterns related to parents’ struggles to meet their children’s needs while homeless in a rural area. Using grounded theory and drawing on recordings of semi-structured interviews with 53 homeless parents in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) we introduce the concept of survival parenting to describe parents’ survival-related efforts, associated stress, and methods of coping with this stress. Survival parenting and the use of coping mechanisms are examined in the broader familial context. Policy and service implications are also presented. KEY WORDS: homelessness, parenting, rural, children, coping behaviors, poverty Introduction An extensive body of existing literature examines the family context of homelessness, primarily research focusing on single mothers, and the challenges they face parenting children while living in urban shelter environments. We know much less about rural homelessness, homelessness among non-sheltered families (e.g., doubled-up with family and friends, living in transitional housing), different family structures (e.g., two-parent families), and the experience of parenting in these different contexts. The current work uses grounded theory to examine the experiences of homeless parents, many of whom are not living in shelters, in a rural environment. We introduce the concept of survival parenting to describe parents’ hyper-vigilant and extraordinary efforts to meet their children’s basic needs while homeless. Literature Review Family Homelessness Point-in-time estimates from 2013 suggest that approximately 610,000 people were homeless in January of that year (Henry, Cortes, Morris, & Abt Associates, 2013). Approximately three-quarters (77 percent) of the total homeless population World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2014 446 1948-4682 # 2014 Policy Studies Organization Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX42 DQ. is located in urban areas and only 4 percent are in areas considered completely rural (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2009). Homeless families comprise approximately one-third (34 percent) of the entire homeless population (Henry et al., 2013). Among all homeless families, the vast majority is living in urban areas (86 percent) and only a small percentage (9 percent) lives in rural areas (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2009). The majority of homeless families (84 percent) are single-parent families comprised of a mother and her children (Henry et al., 2013). This family structure is especially indicative of homeless families living in urban areas. Existing research on family homelessness generally focuses on single mothers and their children, especially those living in urban sheltered environments (e.g., Bassuk & Rosenberg, 1988; Bassuk, Rubin, & Lauriat, 1986; Goodman, 1991; Grigsby, Baumann, Gregorich, & Roberts-Gray, 1990; Letiecq, Anderson, & Koblinsky, 1996; North & Smith, 1993; Rossi, Wright, Fisher, & Willis, 1987; Wood, Valdez, Hayashi, & Shen, 1990). There is a greater diversity of homeless family structures in rural areas (Fisher, 2005) yet existing research on the experience of homelessness in these family structures is scarce (Fisher, 2005; Trella and Hilton, 2014; Vissing, 1996). Rural families experiencing homeless- ness tend to be less visible and are often harder to account for compared to those in urban areas given limited shelters and other human services that serve the homeless, and limited shelter use (Fitchen, 1991; Henry & Sermons, 2010; Hilton & DeJong, 2010; Hoover & Carter, 1991; Kusmin & Hertz, 2010; Lawrence, 1995; Patton, 1988; Post, 2002; Strong, Del Grosso, Burwick, Jethwani, & Ponza, 2005). Compared to homeless families in urban areas, rural homeless families are nearly twice as likely to be unsheltered, are more likely to be homeless for the first time, and will experience homelessness for a shorter period of time (Fisher, 2005; National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2009). Homeless families in rural areas are also more likely to reside in campgrounds, cars, and other substandard dwellings, and doubled-up with family or friends (National Rural Health Association, 1996; Patton, 1988; Wagner, Menke, & Ciccone, 1995). The existing body of research on family homelessness examines basic demographics, precursors (e.g., poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, lack of affordable housing), and consequences of homelessness. This work overempha- sizes the experiences of single-mothers living in urban sheltered environments while de-emphasizing family homelessness within diverse family structures, unsheltered environments, and rural areas. Less is known about the day-to-day experience of parenting within these homeless families or the felt experience of accumulated stressors associated with parenting while homeless. Homeless Parenting Much of what we know about homeless parenting is based on studies of single mothers living in urban sheltered environments. Our understanding of Hilton and Trella: Survival Parenting and Rural Homelessness 447 parenting while homeless is largely embedded in the context of shelter life, namely meeting the rules and regulations set forth by shelter staff and negotiating tenuous relationships with shelter staff. This research highlights the incongruity of autonomous parenting and the development of parental efficacy within the context of sheltered environments (Swick & Williams, 2010). General guidelines that are intended to maintain order and structure in the shelter environment often impinge on parents’ authority and ability to establish rituals and schedules with their children (Mowbray & Thrasher, 1995). Sheltered parents must compensate for a lack of privacy by establishing unique and creative rituals with children that circumvent shelter rules (Boxhill & Beaty, 1990). Furthermore, homeless mothers must reconcile children’s developmental needs to explore their environment and test their boundaries within the confines of sheltered environments that are often unsanitary, crowded, and potentially dangerous. These conditions are also a contributing factor in high levels of emotional distress and anxiety for parents and children (Mowbray & Thrasher, 1995). The emotional challenges associated with parenting toddlers (e.g., near constant negotiation and rationalization) are also an added complexity for homeless mothers who are already emotionally overburdened and hyper-aware of the scrutiny they face while parenting in public (David, Gelberg, & Suchman, 2012). There is relatively little research concerning daily parenting struggles faced by homeless families living in unsheltered environments and in rural areas. As such we can look to existing research on parenting among single mothers in urban sheltered environments to structure our examination of homeless parent- ing struggles though these experiences are likely to be qualitatively different (Cotter, 2002; Craft-Rosenberg, Powell, & Culp, 2000; Fisher, 2005; Fitchen, 1992; Vissing, 1996). Sheltered homeless families have resources at their disposal (e.g., food, blankets, and bathrooms) to ease the burden of parenting young children. Among unsheltered homeless families these resources may have to be sought out or negotiated multiple times a day to ensure children’s basic needs are met. Both sheltered and unsheltered homeless parents share a similar lack of autonomy and self-efficacy. Parents who are doubling-up with family and friends lack self- efficacy to the extent that they must rely on others to meet their own and their children’s basic needs (Trella and Hilton, 2014; Vissing, 1996). They experience a lack of autonomy in the context of forgoing privacy, space, an ability to schedule their daily activities, and having to abide by established house rules while living with others (Trella and Hilton, 2014). As Trella and Hilton (2014) found, families who are doubling-up often experience an overwhelming sense of gratitude and guilt for burdening their relatives and friends with the responsibility of sheltering multiple people. They often forgo comforts and privacy to minimize disturbance in the daily lives of their relatives and friends. Unsheltered families are also hyper-sensitive to the potential scrutiny they may experience while living with relatives and friends. Homeless parents often do not have anything to offer their relatives and friends in return for being housed. As such, parents may accept less than ideal circumstances and burdensome requests from family 448 World Medical & Health Policy, 6:4 and friends if it ensures that their children’s basic needs for shelter, warmth, and protection will be met. The experience of homelessness undermines parents’ ability to meet their children’s basic physical and emotional needs (Bassuk, 1993; David et al., 2012). Parents who are emotionally overwhelmed are often forced to prioritize children’s physical needs at the expense of establishing emotional connections—a deliberate coping mechanism employed by homeless mothers to avoid feelings of parental inadequacy (David et al., 2012). The ability to maintain structured relationships and schedules with children is often dependent on whether parents feel subjected to scrutiny while parenting in public, feel that their roles as parents have been diminished because of their circumstances, and also feel subject to external control by shelter rules or other individuals who they are dependent upon (Boxhill & Beaty, 1990). Parenting Stress Previous literature on homeless parenting tends to focus on how parenting quality decreases with exposure to adverse conditions that undermine family functioning and threaten family stability (Perlman, Cowan, Gewirtz, Haskett, & Stokes, 2012). External factors (e.g., relationships with social service staff, tenuous relationships with family and friends, lack of affordable housing, barriers to education, unemployment, poor health) can increase parents’ distress and adversely impact parents’ ability to meet their children’s basic needs and psychological well-being (Deater-Deckard, 1998; Howard, Cartwright, & Barajas, 2009; Jozefowicz & Israel, 2006; Lindsey, 1998). Children in families marked by high levels of parenting stress and a significant number of major life concerns are particularly at risk for behavioral problems, lower academic achievement, and poor mental health outcomes (Danseco & Holden, 1998). Parents who are not able to provide a stable home for their children experience a particularly acute sense of guilt as this is viewed as failing to meet a primary responsibility to one’s children (Averitt, 2003). Research suggests that an inability to provide children with shelter, food, clothing, warmth, and protect them from harm is associated with higher rates of parental depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety (Averitt, 2003). Beyond meeting their basic needs, many parents are keenly aware of their need to protect children’s self-esteem and provide opportunities for their children to thrive despite adverse circumstances associated with homelessness (Averitt, 2003). Parents who can alleviate their stress by utilizing social support systems and tapping into personal resiliencies are better able to cope with the daily struggles of homelessness (Averitt, 2003; Danseco & Holden, 1998). Studies suggest that social support is associated with greater parenting quality (Oravecz, Osteen, Sharpe, & Randolph, 2011). Families with lower levels of parenting stress tended to have greater protective factors (e.g., social supports, parents’ skill levels, and self-reliance) and their children tended to have more positive developmental outcomes (Danseco & Holden, 1998). Hilton and Trella: Survival Parenting and Rural Homelessness 449 While we