Foster Care Improving?

Grade level and performance

Parental education rights

Special needs According to HHSA, the social workers have responsibility to make sure that the records follow the child from foster home to foster home as well as from school to school. In the HHSA manual it is emphasized that “the SW must make every effort to provide the health and education information at the time of placement.” Since HEP is a closed system due to confidentiality issues, HHSA and Foster Youth Services (FYS), a segment of the County Office of Education, do not have access to each other’s records; however, social workers can send updated education and medical records directly to the FYS Education Liaison. This needs to be continued for all foster youths in the HHSA system. 2 ibid. McKinney-Vento Act The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is new Federal legislation. The act came into being in 2001 and was reauthorized in January 2002. It insures the educational rights of children experiencing homelessness so that no child will be academically left behind. The Grand Jury finds that the school at Polinsky Center is for short-term placement of children who may go into foster care and thus is subject to this law. Monarch High School in San Diego also comes under this legislation which is specifically directed at local education agencies (LEAs). The legislation says that LEAs must immediately enroll students in homeless situations, even if they do not have required documents such as school records, medical records [and others]. . . . Enrolling schools must obtain school records from the previous school, and students must be enrolled in school while records are obtained.3 Pending Legislation On April 23, 2003, California Assembly Bill 490 (Steinberg) Helping Foster Children Make the Grade was pending legislation in Sacramento. AB 490 includes the following:

Creates school stability for foster children by allowing them to remain in, and be transported to, their school of origin for the duration of the school year when doing so will be in the child’s best interest.

Requires LEAs to designate a staff person as an education liaison to ensure proper placement, records transfer, and enrollment for foster youth.

Makes LEAs, county social workers and probation officers jointly responsible for the timely transfer of students and their records when a change of schools is in the child’s best interest.

Requires that a comprehensive public school be considered as the first school placement option for foster youth.

Allows a foster child to be enrolled in school even if not all typically required records are immediately available.

Requires school districts to calculate and accept credit for full or partial coursework satisfactorily completed by the youth.

Authorizes the release of educational records of foster youth to their social workers. Family-to-Family Program A new program, Family-to-Family, founded in 1992 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and child welfare leaders, is a national movement, begun by private initiative that is now expanding to cities across the country. It was undertaken as an effort to keep students in the same neighborhood, thus eliminating the psychological trauma of changing schools. It also allows them to maintain the same friends and social continuity while eliminating the need to transfer 3 http://www.national homeless.org/shortsunstable.html 5 records. The goal of the new program is to increase (by 15%) the number of students receiving high school diplomas by keeping each one close to his or her original home. The Family-to- Family program also enables siblings to stay in close contact since they remain in the same neighborhood even if placed in different homes by necessity. Foster Parenting Workshops Through the Community College System The California Community Colleges Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Care Education Program at Grossmont College sponsors ‘Support Group Workshops’. Classes are provided that cover many areas of foster care. Of particular interest to the Grand Jury is a class titled “How to Advocate for Your Foster/Kinship Child in the School System”, a program that deals with enhancing the school experience for a foster child; it includes updating school and medical records when the child goes into a foster home. The year-round program is available for foster parents, those who want to become foster parents, and for those who need additional training. Since there are more children in individual foster homes than in group homes, the program is timely and needed. San Pasqual Academy San Diego County has approximately 1,000 children residing in group homes. The Grand Jury chose to visit San Pasqual Academy (SPA) on several occasions because it is so new and unique. The Academy occupies approximately 238 acres in the North County’s Escondido area; it is state licensed as a group home for 136 students, mostly of high-school age, though some younger siblings are also living there. SPA opened on September 28, 2001, as a placement for foster youths in order to provide a stable home life as well as a typical four-year high school program. This is unlike anything done before for foster youth in the nation and provides high school programs similar to the other county schools. The Academy is a unique public-private partnership between New Alternatives, the County, charitable organizations, individual donors and local businesses.4 Some social workers from the Escondido office of HHSA work exclusively with the SPA children. In the future, an office will be provided on the SPA campus for these workers. The social workers maintain and update school and medical records using the Health and Education Passport (HEP) which is generated from the Case Management System- Child Welfare System (CMS-CWS). As of April 21, 2003, 106 students reside at SPA. The student:staff ratio is 15:1. Twenty SPA students will graduate high school in June of 2003. All of SPA’s future graduates have plans to go to college, with a few having been accepted into four-year colleges and universities. The rest will go to community colleges. Students at SPA revealed many concerns during Grand Jury interviews. The most frequently voiced complaints about life before SPA were:

Waiting up to one week or more for school records to arrive

Transcripts, when received, not being up to date 4 Flyer issued by San Pasqual Academy, A Residential Education Campus for Foster Youth, A program of New Alternatives, Inc. 6

Credit for work completed often missing Due to recurrent problems that relate to the delay of school and medical records transfer, a uniform policy needs to be formed regarding the transfer of both medical and scholastic records for these foster children not residing in group homes. Interagency Agreement for Group Homes The San Diego County Office of Education, through the Senior Director and the Safe Schools Coordinator for Foster Youth Services, has developed an “Interagency Agreement” between its office and the San Diego County Probation Department, HHSA, Sweetwater Union High School District, Chula Vista Elementary School District, San Diego Unified School District, Oceanside Unified School District, Ramona Unified School District and three licensed Children’s Institutions (LCIs)—New Alternatives, Devereux, and Broad Horizons. This agreement was made: …to develop a plan for the purpose of providing improved educational outcomes for students in foster care. The SDCOE-FYS and Participants will work together to ensure students’ health and education records are current and accurate, that transfer of records occurs in a timely manner, and that students in foster care are educated in the appropriate educational placement in the least restrictive environment. (Ed. Code 49069.5, Gov. Code 7579.1)5 The transfer of records is done through a FYS Educational Liaison “who assists schools, placing agencies, and group home providers in locating missing health and education records.”6 The Liaison also assists the various group homes in the timely transfer of school and medical records, and ensures that the youth’s education is minimally disrupted when a change of placement occurs. San Diego is one of the few California counties that has this benefit, just one of the many improvements done to alleviate problems and improve conditions of children when they come into the FCS. Polinsky Children’s Center Polinsky is a short-term placement for children removed from their homes due to abuse and/ or neglect. Some of the children are awaiting placement in a foster home. Their education continues while they reside at Polinsky. According to the Polinsky school staff, getting education and medical records for the children, even if it takes only one week, is a problem because some of the children may have been sent on to their new placements by the time the records arrive. However, at Polinsky, a child is admitted to the on-site school immediately without waiting for the records to arrive. Whatever credit the child earns at Polinsky is sent with him or her to the new foster home placement. The new school district decides whether or not to accept that partial credit 5 FYS, “Interagency Agreement” . Flyer issued by FYS Educational Liaison. 7