Western, middle-class conceptualizations of "motherwork" has transformed the obligations and prerequisites of parenting to privilege social capital, emotional attachment, and material resources. Less is understood as to how homeless women parent their children in conditions of material deprivation and residential instability. In this work, the author explores the assumptions, core issues, and consequences of how researchers frame and represent homeless mothers. This literature review grapples with the politics of representation in documenting the homeless female "other."