FosterEd NCCAN Presentation 5.1.2014 (1)

Supporting the Educational Success
of Students in Foster Care
National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
New Orleans Ÿ May 1, 2014
Jesse Hahnel
Peter Hershberger
Casey Schutte
Rachel Velcoff Hults
National Center for Youth Law
National Center for Youth Law
A non-profit, public interest law firm established in 1970 that works to ensure that lowincome children have the resources, support, and opportunities they need for healthy and
productive lives.
Substantive focus areas include:
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Child Welfare
Economic Security
Education
Health/Mental Health
Juvenile Justice
FosterEd
An initiative of the National Center for Youth Law that works to improve the educational
outcomes of children and youth in foster care.
Agenda
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Issue overview
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FosterEd
•  Process
•  Project sites
•  Programmatic elements
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Discussion and Q&A
FosterEd: Process Overview
FosterEd: Process I
New Site Suitability Assessment (months 1 - 6)
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State and local agencies willing to focus on improving the
educational outcomes of foster children
State and local agencies willing to collaborate with us and with each
other
Potential to secure the resources necessary to develop a foster youth
education liaison program
FosterEd State Leadership Team (months 6 - ongoing)
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Representatives from state child welfare agency, department of
education, administrative office of the courts, Governor’s office, state
board of education, and attorney general’s office
Serves as our oversight board in that state
Ongoing focus on framework, policies, infrastructure, sustainability
and spread
FosterEd: Process II
Selection of pilot location (month 9)
Selection Criteria:
•  Between 250 and 2,000 foster children
•  History of successfully implementing collaborative projects
•  Strong leadership
•  Excitement at the prospect of piloting the project
•  Large school districts with decent data systems
•  Community has the capacity to help financially support the project
•  Boundaries coincide with court system and CPS region
•  Politically advantageous
Hire and train FosterEd manager to lead the project
FosterEd: Process III
FosterEd local planning team (months 12 – ongoing)
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Includes representatives from school districts, courts, child welfare
agencies, mental health agencies, probation agencies, service
providers, CASA organizations, advocacy organizations and
foundations
Ongoing focus on processes, collaboration, and data-sharing
Pilot installation: Development of infrastructure necessary to support the
project (months 12 – 18)
•  Local data-sharing systems
•  Collaboratively develop new processes and practices
•  Hire and train FosterEd education liaisons
Phased pilot implementation (year 1.5 – 3.5)
State ownership and statewide spread (year 3.5 – 4.5)
Ongoing technical assistance (year 4.5 – ongoing)
FosterEd: Core Practice Elements
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Ensure every student in foster care is supported by an educational
champion
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Ensure every student in foster care is strengthened by an education
team
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Proactively identify educational strengths and needs, and create an
education plan
FosterEd: Indiana
Pilot Project
•  Marion County, Indiana
•  Launched in fall 2011
Statewide Expansion
•  Project has since become a publicly funded statewide initiative of the Indiana
Department of Child Services
•  Project director and network of sixteen full-time education liaisons across the state
Partners
•  Indiana Department of Child Services
•  Indiana Department of Education
•  Indiana Supreme Court, Division of State Court Management
Cases
•  Statewide, approximately 2,300 students served to date
FosterEd: Santa Cruz County
Pilot Project
•  Santa Cruz County, California
•  Launched in early 2013
•  Project manager and three full-time education liaisons, co-located in county office of
education and child welfare agency offices
Partners
•  Superior Court of California, County of Santa Cruz, Juvenile Division
•  County Office of Education – Foster Youth Services
•  Human Services Department – Family and Children’s Services
•  CASA of Santa Cruz County
•  Pajaro Valley Unified School District
•  State-level leadership team includes the California Department of Social Services,
Department of Education, and Administrative Office of the Courts
Cases
•  Approximately 134 cases served to date
FosterEd: Arizona
Pilot Project
•  Pima County, Arizona
•  Launched in early 2014
•  Director and three full-time education liaisons, co-located in child welfare agency
offices
Partners
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Pima County Juvenile Court Center
Pima County School Superintendent’s Office
Arizona Division of Children, Youth and Families, Pima Region
State-level leadership team includes the Arizona Department of Behavioral Health
Services, Department of Education, Governor’s Office, State Board of Education,
Attorney General’s Office, and Administrative Office of the Courts
Cases
•  Approximately 108 cases served to date
FosterEd: Los Angeles County
Planning Process
•  Planning underway for project in Los Angeles County, California
•  Project director hired in March 2014
Partners
•  Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services
•  Los Angeles County Office of Education
•  Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer’s Office
FosterEd: New Mexico
New Site Suitability Assessment
•  New Site Suitability Assessment underway
Partners
•  New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts
•  New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department
•  New Mexico Public Education Department
Programmatic Element #1: Ensure every student in foster care
is supported by an educational champion
Implementation of Educational Champion Component
In Santa Cruz County
Objective
•  Ensure that Santa Cruz County foster children have at least one “educational
champion” with the beliefs, capacities, and behaviors proven to support educational
success.
Who are educational champions?
•  The adult most likely to be the long-term caregiver for the child, as identified by the
child’s social worker.
•  For youth in care past age 18, the youth is his or her own educational champion.
Why does FosterEd identify and support educational champions?
•  Researchers have consistently found parental involvement to be strongly correlated
to educational success.
Implementation of Educational Champion Component
In Santa Cruz County, continued
Support Provided to Educational Champions
•  FosterEd provides support and mentoring to educational champion to build their
capacity to promote the child’s educational success.
•  FosterEd connects educational champions with a mentor, often a volunteer
recruited and trained by FosterEd for this purpose.
•  Mentoring takes place through one-on-one meetings and phone calls.
•  Mentors can also attend education-related meetings with educational champions.
Mentoring Resources
Mentoring Modules
•  Available online: http://www.foster-ed.org/resourcesca.html
•  Topics covered:
•  Beliefs, expectations, aspirations
about education; self-efficacy
•  Obtaining academic support
•  Monitoring and facilitating learning
•  Special education and
accommodations
•  Communication with child and
school
•  Behavioral and school discipline
issues
•  Education records and credits
•  Involvement in extracurricular
activities
•  Enrollment in appropriate schools
and classes
•  School attendance
•  Transition to college and career
•  Mentoring non-minor dependents
Programmatic Element #2: Ensure every student in foster care
is strengthened by an education team
Goal: Ensure every student in foster care has an education team
supporting their success in school.
•  Identification of wide range of stakeholders willing and able to
help support educational success
•  Increased communication
•  Collaborative educational case planning and monitoring
Team members may include:
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Social worker
Parent
Caregiver
Ed rights holder
CASA
Teacher
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School site staff
Dependency attorney
Mentors and coaches
Special education case
manager / coordinator
•  Youth (if age appropriate)
Programmatic Element #3: Proactive identification of educational
strengths and needs and creation of Ed. Plan
Gather critical
education related
information
Ensure Ed Plan is
implemented as
intended
Distribute Ed Plan to
critical stakeholders
Use information to
identify ed strengths
and needs (Ed Screen)
Use identified strengths
and needs to develop
education intervention
plan (Ed Plan)
Group Discussion
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Does your county / state have programs in place to improve the educational
outcomes of students in foster care?
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What strategies has your agency or organization used?
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Who have you partnered with in these efforts?
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What policy initiatives are underway in your state to ensure students in foster care
have the supports and services they need?
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What successes have you had?
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What challenges have you faced?
Contact Information
FosterEd Initiative website:
www.Foster-Ed.org
National Center for Youth Law website:
www.youthlaw.org
Jesse Hahnel
Director, FosterEd
405 14th St., 15th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
[email protected]
(510) 835-8098 x 3003
Peter Hershberger
Director, FosterEd: Arizona
200 N. Stone Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85701
[email protected]
(520) 724-8392
Rachel Velcoff Hults
Chief Operating Officer, FosterEd
405 14th St., 15th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
[email protected]
(510) 835-8098 x 3052
Casey Schutte
Project Manager, FosterEd: Santa Cruz
400 Encinal Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
[email protected]
(831) 466-5665