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26 June 2009
NO 1453
Foster children
According to Avery (2001), children in the child welfare system typically are poorly prepared for kindergarten, do not function well in school at any age, have greater than average behavioral and learning problems, miss a large number of school days, change schools frequently, and drop out of school at higher rates than their peers.
The capacity to graduate from high school is often difficult and challenging for all children in the welfare system, especially foster children. Typically, foster children have no continuity in their high school educational experience. Many foster children will attend several high schools before they graduate, and if they move during the school year classes will be frequently interrupted by changes. They will also have no consistency in the development of their educational plan of study because they will see several guidance counselors who mostly will be unfamiliar with the foster child’s social history, background and ability. Because of their frequent moving, foster children will also frequently experience breaks in their direct instruction requiring them to adjust to different teachers, courses, school rules, and expectations.
Furthermore, foster children will typically not have any consistent parent advocacy or representative in the creation and implementation of the educational plan for graduation. In high school, foster children are often guided toward educational program options that require either Special Education Intervention or placement in Occupational and Alternative Education Programs because they lack the necessary academic credits needed to graduate from high school on time. According to Christian (2003), socially, high school foster children have few close friends in their graduating class, and they have little attachment to the school that they are graduating from. Most of all, this experience makes the senior year experience of high school and the milestone of a high school graduation less positive, memorable and meaningful to the average foster child
James Vacca
Vacca, J. (2007). No child left behind ¦
except the foster child. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 20 (2),
npp. 67-72
References
Avery, J. (2001). Education and children in foster care: Future success or failure? New Horizons for Learning. Seattle WA. VI (4). Retrieved October 30, 2006, from http://www.newhorizons.org
Christian, S. (2003, December). Educating children in foster care. National Conference of State Legislators–A collaborative project on children and family issues. Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures.
