Foster Care and Juvenile Justice

Foster Care and Juvenile Justice: Highlights

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ELC Launches Foster Education Initiative for Pennsylvania

ELC is thrilled to announce the launch of a new project: The Foster Education Initiative.

This joint project with the Juvenile Law Center is working to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for the 23,000 children in care in Pennsylvania.  The Initiative focuses on several key areas: (1) promoting educational stability (to prevent children from being bounced from school to school); (2) creating and enforcing policies to ensure that children are enrolled immediately and appropriately placed in a new school when they do move; (3) ensuring that children in foster care receive the services they need to be successful including special education services mandated by law; and (4) educating biological and foster parents, case workers and other professionals about the education and special education rights of children in care. This project was made possible by support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Learn more & join the conversation - Visit the Foster Education Initiative’s website:  www.FosterEdPa.org

Back to School: Enrollment Issues

Enrolling in school can be particularly challenging for youth in foster care or other child welfare placements. Delays in enrollment can result in missed school time for kids. As the new school year begins, it’s important to know the rules for enrolling children and where to turn for help. Click here to learn the rules for enrolling a child in school and the steps you can take if you run into a problem.

Are You A Foster Parent?

Join The Conversation

The Education Law Center is part of the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education, which hosts quarterly conference calls with organizations and individuals around the country to develop effective strategies for improving educational outcomes for children and youth in out-of-home care. The Center is an initiative of the American Bar Association in collaboration with Casey Family Programs and the Juvenile Law Center. If you would like to receive information or participate in these conference calls, please visit the ABA website.

Educational Stability = Success for Children in Foster Care

ELC is  promoting educational stability for children in foster care by ensuring that youth can remain in the same school  even when they move from one placement to another; that they are promptly enrolled in school; and that if a school change is needed it is seamless. On the national level,  the federal McKinney-Vento Act guarantees these safeguards for children who are homeless. We are working to extend these important protections to children in out-of-home care through changes in federal and state law.

Click here to view “Lessons Learned” authored by ELC and JLC which addresses the importance of providing educational stability for youth in foster care.

Click here to learn about the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education, a partnership of child advocacy organizations and ELC under the auspices of Casey Family Programs. Casey Family Programs has all the materials for the working group posted on its website. For more information on ELC's work in this area, please contact Maura McInerney.

Educate Yourself About Children’s Legal Rights

Training opportunities: ELC has developed training modules to educate caseworkers, foster parents, biological parents, judges and child advocates and school counselors about the legal rules and the best strategies to improve the educational success of children in out-of-home care. If you are interested in receiving training, please contact Maura McInerney. You can also find here:

Know the Facts

New National Education Fact Sheet: Learn the facts about the educational outcomes of children in foster care and the barriers they face. Click here for new Education Fact Sheet on children and youth in out of home care.

Resource Guide: The National Working Group on Foster Care and Education has recently published a Resource Guide for improving educational outcomes for children in foster care. To learn more, click here.

Thank You Casey Family Programs and Annie E. Casey Foundation!

ELC receives funding from the Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to work with the Juvenile Law Center and the ABA's Children's Project on improving education outcomes and opportunities for kids in care. This funding provides technical assistance to advocates on how to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for children and youth in the child welfare system. For more information, visit the websites of the ABA and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

New Juvenile Justice Resource

ELC has published the “Educational Aftercare & Reintegration Toolkit for Juvenile Probation Officers” to help JPOs and families grapple with and resolve education issues facing youth who are adjudicated delinquent. The Toolkit provides basic information and practical advice on identifying and meeting a student’s individual educational needs, from the pre-placement dispositional hearing through release and reintegration back into school and the community. To download the Toolkit, visit our Publications page.

ELC'S POINT OF VIEW

According to a recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, some of the best predictors of success for foster care alumni are education-related.  These include whether the youth has acquired basic reading skills, has taken the courses needed for college admission, and has graduated from high school.  Studies from Chapin Hall Center for Children reveal that, in general, children in foster care enter school academically behind their peers, and often fall even further behind when changes in their foster placements result in school changes. ELC staff is working to ensure higher expectations, better educational opportunity, and more educational stability for these children.

Many of the children in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system have a history of school problems.  Like children in foster care, these children often have few, high quality educational opportunities before, during, and after their juvenile justice placement. ELC also works to prevent the inappropriate placement of children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, particularly for disability-related behavior that should be addressed by their school districts as part of their special education programs.