Abstract

Supporting Texas A&M University–Central Texas’ American Democracy Project, which seeks to create awareness of homeless youth issues, this article uses the narratives of the two most disadvantaged single mothers in a phenomenological study to reveal their unique experiences of youth homelessness through emancipation from unfit parents, initial employment, and becoming homeless single parents, before finally accessing post-compulsory education. Narrative analysis of mothers’ life courses revealed unique disadvantages, which resulted in premature, truncated, and compacted transitions to early adulthood; extended negative impacts on completion of compulsory education; entrapment in the low-skilled labor market; and subsequent delayed access to post-compulsory education. This article presents insights for student advocacy professionals describing two homeless single mothers’ journeys persisting incrementally toward educational goals despite these negative impacts.