Education Advocacy for Children in Child Welfare Systems

Posted by on April 29, 2005

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

PROVIDING EDUCATION ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Advocates for Children of New York released its newest report “Project Achieve: A Model Project Providing Education Advocacy for Children in the Child Welfare System,” documenting an extraordinary success rate in removing barriers to education for children in foster care. There are over 20,000 children in foster care in New York City, and those of school age are among the most at-risk students in the city?s public schools. These are children who have been exposed to a range of experiences both prior to and during placement in care, including neglect, abuse, separation from biological family members, parental drug use during pregnancy, and frequent changes in foster homes and schools. These experiences increase their chances of having developmental delays, weaker cognitive abilities, behavioral and emotional problems, and higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness — any or all of which contribute to poor performance in school. It is a conservative estimate that at least 40% of children in foster care in New York City have special education needs, a rate nearly four times the average of the general school population. Project Achieve employs three key strategies: providing individual case assistance and advocacy to all clients of a child welfare agency with unmet education-related needs; building the capacity of agency service staff, caseworkers and supervisors to help them identify and solve routine school-related issues; and empowering and educating parents and, young people, to navigate the New York City Department of Education (DOE), and other agencies providing educational services.

http://www.advocatesforchildren.org/