Morgen Black-Smith, education attorney at Support Center for Child Advocates.

As many as 84% of 17- and 18-year-olds in foster care want to attend college. But these teens are only about half as likely to enroll in college as their peers, and fewer than 3% of them will earn a bachelor's degree by the age of 24. See National Working Group on Foster Care and Education, "Fostering Success in Education: National Fact sheet on the Educational Outcomes of Children in Foster Care" (April 2018).

 It is well documented that foster care alumni experience worse life outcomes than their peers across many measures: on average, they achieve less vocational and economic success, have a higher incidence of chronic medical problems, experience less stable romantic and other close relationships, and are substantially more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system or become incarcerated. As the example of college graduation rates above suggests, some of the most profound negative consequences that former or current foster care youth face relate to their education.

Children in foster care are more likely than their peers to experience higher rates of school changes, delays in school enrollment, chronic absenteeism and disproportionate school discipline. They are more likely to fall behind grade-level expectations in basic reading and math skills, to repeat grades in school and to need special education services. System-involved teens are especially vulnerable to educational disruption. Frequent home and school moves result in teens earning only incomplete or nontransferrable high school credits, or even being housed in facilities where they are denied access to public education entirely. Unsurprisingly, these young people are at a substantially higher risk of dropping out of school than their peers, and fewer obtain their high school diploma or GED.

But it's not all bad news. With the right support in place, school is one of the few interventions that we know helps youth overcome the challenges that being in foster care brings. With school-aged children spending about half of their waking hours at school, school can be an important anchor of stability and routine. In addition to the opportunities that academic success provides, schools can offer a source of supportive relationships with trusted teachers, coaches or administrators. And, significantly, school is a place where young people in foster care can find normalcy—spending time with friends, engaging in extra-curricular activities or taking on leadership roles. Moreover, there are federal, state and local laws, and regulations in place that recognize and mitigate the educational challenges that youth in foster care face. In Pennsylvania, the Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure provide additional safeguards to ensure that educational needs of youth in foster care are addressed. At the Support Center for Child Advocates, we advocate for our clients' rights under these laws with the goal of making school a protective factor rather than a harmful one.

So, what is it about foster care involvement that has such profound effects on a child's education?

Multiple, inter-related causes contribute to these poor outcomes. The same factors that lead to a youth's foster care involvement often correlate with educational barriers, meaning that youth who enter foster care may already be at risk for poor outcomes. And being in a foster care placement brings specific challenges of its own. Generally, children and teens are placed into foster care after the state or local child and youth agency investigates a complaint of child abuse or neglect. If the investigator concludes that the child is not safe in the home, the agency files a petition in the dependent branch of the county's local family court. With court oversight, the agency removes the child from the home, and she is placed into foster care, ideally with a family member or family friend, but sometimes with a stranger. Some youth are even ordered by the court to enter a foster care placement because of educational problems related to chronic school absences.

From that point on, every youth's path to permanency is different. Some kids are involved with the child welfare system for weeks, others for decades. Many children are unified with their parents, others live permanently with a relative or family friend. Some are adopted into new families, others age out of the system without strong ties to any supportive adults. Despite those different paths, there are some commonalties that many youth in foster care share along the way, particularly in the way their education is affected.

First, foster care involvement necessarily involves at least one placement move—out of the child's home and away from her parents. Frequently, especially for older youth and teenagers, time in foster care is comprised of multiple placements over time, sometimes numbering in the dozens. Each placement move raises a concern about a school move as well. Nationally, a young person changes schools an average of three times during the time they are in foster care. Each school move a child makes correlates with an estimated two to six months' lost academic progress. Knowing this, the federal government has passed several laws designed to ensure school stability. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections) and the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) both provide that a student is permitted to remain in her school of origin following a child welfare placement move, unless it is in her best interest to change schools. School districts and child welfare agencies are required to work together to arrange for transportation and other necessary supports to ensure this school stability.

Relatedly, foster care involvement can negatively affect a student's attendance at school. If the circumstances are such that a student cannot maintain school stability after a placement move, delayed enrollment in a new school leads to missed days or even weeks of class. In addition, youth in foster care miss school to attend court or other related appointments, and can experience depression or anxiety that can cause them to refuse or avoid school. Youth in foster care miss an average of 25 school days each year, a significant percentage of the 180 annual school days required in Pennsylvania. But there are also legal mechanisms to reduce these unnecessary absences. Fostering Connections and ESSA obligate schools to transfer student records quickly in the event of a school change. Pennsylvania's truancy law requires schools to offer support to families when a student's attendance is a concern, including putting an attendance improvement plan in place. Federal and state special education laws are also useful tools to provide behavioral or emotional supports to youth who need them, including to improve their school attendance. See 20 U.S.C. Section 1401(3), 22 Pa. Code Sections 14.131(iv), 14.133.

A final common educational barrier facing youth in foster care is that it can be confusing to know who has the right to make educational decisions for a child removed from her home. There can be disputes between the biological parent, the foster parent, and the child and youth agency social worker about who should make decisions and what decisions are best. The law in Pennsylvania provides that biological parents retain the rights to make educational decisions unless the court decides that it is in the child's best interest to vest those rights in someone else. Rule 1147 recognizes implicitly that without a consistent, engaged adult to monitor a student's educational needs, those needs may not be addressed. In addition to providing the court with the authority to appoint another educational decision-maker, the rule sets forth a person's specific obligations to make inquiries and take action on the child's behalf.

Although youth with child welfare system involvement can and do experience alarmingly poor educational outcomes, with knowledge of the laws that protect their rights, engaged parents or other caregivers—and through dedicated advocacy—we can harness the protective capacity of school on behalf of youth who need it the most.

Morgen Black-Smith is a staff attorney and project manager of Project YES! (Youth Educational Success) at the Support Center for Child Advocates. She can be reached at 267-546-9235 or [email protected].