At least 3.5 million people in the United States will go to bed today in an emergency shelter, on the street, in shared quarters with a relative or friend, or in a car or another setting that defines them as homeless. Of that number, 1.35 million are children, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Phyllis Agness knows the faces and stories of many of Fort Wayne's homeless families, particularly children, which led her to authoring “No Place at the Table,” a book about America's homeless children. For the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne assistant professor, learning about and aiding the homeless is a commitment, a commandment from God and a call for change to an indifferent society.

With black-and-white photographs by Greg Allen, a former Fort Wayne Community Schools social worker-turned professional photographer, the book shares vivid accounts of children in Fort Wayne who have at some point in their short lives been homeless, often more than once.

Intermixed with the voices and images of the children are sobering statistics that reveal the bigger picture of homelessness in this country and its impact on children who want “a bed in which to sleep, food that's fit to eat, a place where they can feel safe. … They are the children who have nothing to call their own - no books, pictures, pets or even friends,” Agness describes in the book.

“The book has been in my head for 15 years, ever since I started doing volunteer work in shelters,” said Agness, who has taught children with severe emotional needs and migrant children. She started volunteering at Vincent House and now is active with Charis House, the women's division of Fort Wayne Rescue Ministries.

With a doctorate in education and years of teaching, she thought she understood the causes and consequences of not having a permanent home. But her eyes were opened.

“I knew if I didn't know and understand homelessness, and I'm in education, then other people wouldn't know either,” she said.

The stories are true, although the pictures do not correspond with the stories in order to protect the children who share their pain, disappointment, fears and sometimes happiness found in even the simplest things, such as access to an empty 8-ounce, plastic butter container, an item on the back-to-school list where the child, whose home is a car, is enrolled:

“Who thought up those displays where my school's ‘back-to-school needs list' is right there in front of me. … I can't pretend that none of this is real when we go into the store to use the bathroom each morning; … the soup kitchen where we're eating probably buys their butter in way bigger containers than 8-ounce size. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to go to school at all. The other kids look at us and say mean things. The teacher asks where our supplies are.”


For Allen, capturing the faces of Fort Wayne children living in homeless settings was an intersection with his former career.

“Because part of my responsibility to the students at FWCS was to make home visits, I was able to hear their stories and empathize with their situations. It increased my sensitivity and awareness to their issues and challenges,” he said.