Transcript Foster Care 101 - Region 10 Website

Foster Care 101
For Educators
David Ray, Region 10 ESC
• McKinney-Vento/ Homeless Education and Foster Care Consultant
• [email protected]
• 972.348.1786
• www.Region10.org/fostercare
• www.Region10.org/MVH
TEA Contacts
• http://www.tea.state.tx.us/FosterCareStudentSuccess/
• Federal & State Education Policy
Foster Care Education & Policy Coordinator
Kelly Kravitz
512-463-9235
[email protected]
[email protected]
Agenda
A. What is Foster Care
B. Data & Statistics
C. Timeline of Efforts
D. What are the Laws
DFPS- Department of Family and Protective
Services
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) protects children
and adults who are elderly or have disabilities and regulates child care.
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Adult Protective Services
Child Protective Services
Child Care Licensing
Prevention and Early Intervention
CPS- Child Protective Services
Child Protective Services responsibilities include:
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Investigating reports of abuse and neglect of children.
Providing services to children and families in their own homes.
Placing children in foster care.
Providing services to help youth in foster care make the transition to
adulthood.
• Placing children in adoptive homes.
Substitute Care
• Temporary Managing Conservatorship (TMC): DFPS may be the TMC while the
agency works with the family on a reunification plan; or
• Permanent Managing Conservatorship (PMC): DFPS may be named the PMC
for a child until custody is given to another individual or until the youth turns
18.
Substitute Care Types
Formal Placement
Informal Placement
• Foster Family Home
• Foster Group Home
• Residential Treatment Facilities
• Kinship Placement
• Relative Care
• Non-relative Care
• Emergency Shelters
Timeline
• 2008: Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of
2008, Public Law 110-351
• 2010: Supreme Court of TX orders Children’s Commission
• Texas Blueprint (Consensus of this group)
• 18 month period of listening to each other
• 2013: Education Portion of the Children’s Commission awarded grant
• 2014: Foster Care and Student Success
2008: Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008, Public Law 110-351
• This law requires state child welfare agencies to collaborate with their state
and local education agencies to promote school stability and improve
educational outcomes for children in foster care. (Chapter 1, pgs. 14-15)
• Education provisions in Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008 include:
• Emphasis on the importance of school stability, maintaining the school in which the
child was enrolled at the time of placement, and the need for coordination between
state and regional child welfare and state and local education agencies.
• Assurance that the placements take into account the appropriateness of the current
education setting and proximity to the school in which the child is enrolled at the
time of placement in foster care.
• If remaining in the same school is not in the child’s best interest, the child welfare
and local education agencies will work together to ensure immediate and
appropriate enrollment and provide ALL of the child’s education records to the new
school.
2010: Supreme Court of TX orders Children’s
Commission
• In 2010, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an Order Establishing the Education
Committee of the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and
Families (Children’s Commission). The Education Committee a high-level group of
court, education and child welfare decision-makers created a collaborative
initiative designed to improve educational outcomes of children and youth in the
Texas foster care system. The order resulted in over 100 court, education and
child welfare stakeholders coming together over an 18-month period to listen and
learn from each other, discuss and debate about the issues, and ultimately
develop recommendations to improve educational outcomes of children and
youth in foster care.
• The core focus areas were:
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School Readiness,
School Stability and Transitions,
School Experience,
and Post Secondary Education.
2010: Supreme Court of TX orders Children’s
Commission
• The Education Committee reached consensus on many
recommendations, which ranged from changes to daily practices,
modifications to education and child welfare policy, and amendments
to Texas’ legal framework. The recommendations, as implemented,
will impact education, child welfare, and judicial practices, and will
spur multi-disciplinary training, cross-agency data exchange, childspecific information sharing, and cross-system collaborations.
• The Texas Blueprint was submitted to the Supreme Court of Texas on
May 3, 2012. The recommendations are included in the Final Report
of the Education Committee, The Texas Blueprint: Transforming
Education Outcomes for Children & Youth in Foster Care.
2010: Supreme Court of TX orders Children’s
Commission
Guiding Principle # 1: Children and youth in care are entitled to remain in the same school when
feasible.
Guiding Principle # 2: Children and youth in care experience seamless transitions between schools.
Guiding Principle # 3: Young children in care receive services and interventions to be ready to learn.
Guiding Principle # 4: Children and youth in care have the opportunity and support to fully
participate in all developmentally appropriate activities and all aspects of the education experience.
Guiding Principle # 5: Children and youth in care have supports to prevent school dropout, truancy,
and disciplinary actions, and to reengage in the education experience.
Guiding Principle # 6: Children and youth in care are involved, empowered and prepared to selfadvocate in all aspects of their education.
Guiding Principle # 7: Children and youth in care have consistent adult support to advocate for and
make education decisions.
Guiding Principle # 8: Children and youth in care have support to enter and complete postsecondary education.
2013: Education Portion of the Children’s
Commission awarded grant
• As a result of collaborative work led by the Children’s Commission
Education Committee, Texas was one of ten sites awarded a 17month federal Children’s Bureau demonstration grant, Child Welfare –
Education System Collaboration to Increase Educational Stability.
• The grant assisted Texas Education Agency (TEA) in building capacity
and collaboration with the Children’s Commission and Department of
Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to address improving the
education outcomes of students in foster care.
2014: Foster Care and Student Success
• TEA developed a premiere resource to support Texas schools in addressing
the education of students in foster care: Texas Foster Care & Student
Success Resource Guide (PDF, 7.67 MB). This guide is the product of
collaboration with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services,
the Supreme Court of Texas, and the Permanent Judicial Commission for
Children, Youth and Families (Children's Commission). This e-guide and
training manual contains a variety of key researched-based topics and calls
attention to important matters related to the education of students in
foster care. The guide promotes best practices and contains numerous
tips, tools, resources and links to more information.
• TEA desires that the guide be widely used and distributed! Please share
with your districts, schools and networks. The guide is available in a variety
of formats.
Data sharing and data collection
requirements in PEIMS - TEC § 7.029
• (Chapter 1, p. 16; Chapter 5, pgs. 45-46)
102 Record
Column 30
Immediate school enrollment without records
- TEC § 25.002(g)
• (Chapter 7, p. 56)
• Free eligibility for PRE-K - TEC § 29.153(b)(6) (Chapter 10, p. 74)
Previous School
• Attendance in the school the student was enrolled immediately
before entering conservatorship, even when placed outside of the
district attendance zone, until the student successfully completes the
highest grade level offered by the school - TEC § 25.001(g) (Chapter 8,
p. 62)
• 11th or 12th grade student who transfers to a new school district and
does not meet the graduation requirements of the new school district
may request a diploma from the former school district, when on-track
to graduate at the previous school - TEC § 28.025 (Chapter 9, p. 92)
Student Success
• Excused absences for court-ordered appointments - TEC § 25.087
(Chapter 10, p. 75)
• Accelerated instruction (at-risk indicators and compensatory
education) - TEC § 29.081(d)(11) (Chapter 6, p. 51; Chapter 11, pgs.
82-83)
• Transition Assistance from one school to another of students in foster
care - TEC § 25.007 (Chapter 11, pgs. 84-91)
• School districts and open enrollment charter schools are required to
appoint a Foster Care Liaison and notify TEA of their Foster Care
Liaison appointment - TEC § 33.904 (Chapter 5, p. 44)
Free lifetime college tuition and fees waiver!
• The waiver is activated when a student enrolls in dual credit or
another course where a student may earn college credit- TEC §
54.366 – (Chapter 13, pgs. 104-106)
Nutrition
Students in foster care are categorically eligible for all U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) child nutrition programs. Caregivers for children
and youth in foster care do not have to complete a separate application
to participate in these programs (Chapter 10, p. 74).
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Uninterrupted Scholars Act (USA)
An amendment to FERPA, Uninterrupted Scholars Act (January 2013), allows
educational agencies and institutions to disclose a student’s education
records, without parental consent, to child welfare case workers or other
representatives of a state or local child welfare agency when such agency or
organization is legally responsible for the care and protection of the student
(e.g. DFPS staff, the child’s caregiver, attorney ad litem, CASA and others
identified by the court order). Additionally, USA permits educational
agencies and institutions to disclose a student’s education records pursuant
to a court order without requiring additional notice to the parent by the
educational agency or institution if the court has already given the parent
notice as a party in specified types of court proceedings. These changes also
apply to the confidentiality provisions identified in Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). School staff should follow FERPA
regulations when releasing school-related information (Chap 9, pgs. 70-71).