Transcript Linking Education to Permanency Outcomes:

Linking Education to
Permanency Outcomes:
How and Why Improving
Educational Outcomes
Promotes Permanency
Permanency Defined
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Adoption & Safe Families Act: “Permanency”
means “achieving one the permanency planning
goals” approved in ASFA such as reunification,
adoption, permanent legal custodianship or other
planned placement intended to be permanent.
Best practices definition: Some organizations
define “permanency” more broadly to mean
“providing a lifetime commitment to a child in a
setting where he or she is safe, can have a sense
of belonging and well being and can live to
adulthood.”
Indicators of Permanency
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Increase in adoptions, reunifications and
planned permanent placements
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Decrease in length of time a child is in
child welfare system
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Decrease in number of living placements
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Decrease in referrals to JJ placements
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Lifetime stability
Educational Success
Children receive the education they need
to make progress
 Hallmarks of progress/success
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Graduation from HS
Standardized tests/performance at/above
grade level
Attend school regularly
Fewer school changes
Fewer discipline problems
Receive special ed services they need
Higher education attainable
Educational Success = Well Being
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Improves Current Well Being
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Placement stability
Social/emotional stability
Increases access to services
Expands Future Well Being
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Less likely to be incarcerated, unemployed,
abuse drugs etc.
Increased income potential
Increased stability later in life
Education-Related Factors
That Impact Permanency
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School Suspensions/Expulsions
Need for Intensive School Support
Special Education Needs
Truancy Issues
Increase in Risky Behaviors
Unmet behavioral health needs
Need for Advocacy in School
Lack of training/knowledge of foster parents and
providers to meet the educational needs of
children in care
Data: The Missing Link
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Education: Maintains extensive data
(educational progress, NCLB, special
education, discipline)
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Child Welfare: Data re permanency, well
being but very limited education data
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Courts: Possible resource
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Collaborative Projects: e.g., Education
Coordinating Council, Los Angeles CA
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Independent Research: Growing
Link to Permanency: Examples
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Minnesota Permanency Demonstration
Project: Five-year study surveying 111 caregivers;
Compares experiences of children who achieved
permanency with those who remained in foster care.
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Children who moved to permanency were:
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Less likely to miss or skip school or to have been
suspended from school.
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More likely to attend school
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More likely to talk to caregivers about his or her grades
or school work and school-related activities.
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Less likely to have changed schools during prior 2 years
Preliminary data, July 2009 available at
http://www.iarstl.org/papers/MNPermanencyEffects.pdf
Links to Permanency:
Court-based Findings
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In 2006 when New York mandated that
judges ask questions relating to education
and health the state experienced a
profound increase in permanency rates
including:
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Rates of adoption doubled from 2003
80% of children who had been victims of
abuse and neglect cases achieved permanency
– a rate far in excess of national and state
standards
Pima County, AZ: Education Checklist
Links to Permanency :
Impact of Suspensions/Exclusions
The Midwest study by Chapin Hall found that two-thirds
(67%) of youth in out-of-home care had been suspended
from school at least once compared to 28% in a national
sample of general population youth.
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School discipline problems were found to lead to longer
lengths of stay in foster care, more disruptions in
placements and more involvement with the judicial system.
C. Smithgall, et al.Educational Experiences of Children in Outof-Home Care, University of Chicago, Chapin Hall Center for
Children, Chicago, IL (2004), available at
http://www.chapinhall.org/article_abstract.aspx?ar=1372
Impact of Suspensions/Exclusions
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Frequently-moved children were more likely to
have their current placement disrupt and less
likely to be adopted or taken into private
guardianship. With each move, the odds of
finding permanence declines by 25 percent.
Children and Family Research Center,
Instability in Foster Care
http://www.cfrc.illinois.edu/pubs/briefpdfs/instabilit
y.pdf
Links to Permanency:
Qualitative Findings
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“When a child has special needs in school and
those needs are ignored, the child exhibits more
disruptive behavior both at home and in school.
Sometimes it’s too much and families give up.
It’s heartbreaking.”
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“When my foster child was expelled from
school for over a year, I had no choice but
to return him to the foster care system. I
couldn’t stay home with him and he couldn’t be
left alone every day. When schools fail a child in
care, that decision undermines the child’s entire
future. Schools don’t seem to understand the
devastation.”
Ongoing Research
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Advocates for Children, New York Five-year
project working with two foster care agencies in
New York City.
Fresno County's Department of Children and
Family Services Collaborative inter-agency
committee formed four years ago to improve
educational outcomes for Fresno County's foster
youth. Reports: “we have seen first hand the
overall correlation between permanency and
education.”
Ongoing Research
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Lucas County Children Services, Ohio
State University - Diana Theiss, Analyzing
data re educational support, educational
performance, suspensions/expulsions, and
school attendance & comparing it to data
re. permanency outcomes.