Photo: Alison Yin/EdSource

Photograph: Alison Yin/EdSource

Each year, thousands of children in California are removed from their homes and placed into foster intendance due to parental neglect, abuse, or exploitation. During this time, they are considered to be wards or dependents of the court.

While some children are reunited with their families in a matter of weeks, others may stay in foster intendance for years until they achieve adulthood and historic period out of the system.

Children in foster care are of all ages and varying needs. In addition to the trauma at domicile and the disruption of existence removed from their families, they may modify both schools and foster care placements, all of which take a toll on their concrete, emotional and bookish wellbeing. This primer explores some of the unique challenges faced by students in foster care and the support systems in place to help them navigate through the teaching organisation.

How many foster children are in California and the Us?

In 2018, some 59,000 children were in foster intendance in California, with some 33,500 enrolled in the state'south 1000-12 schools.

The number of children in care fluctuates, but nationwide, there were an estimated 437,000 children in foster care as of August 2019.

Is the number of children in foster care in California going up?

No, the number of foster children in California has declined to a footling more than half of what it was ii decades agone. According to a report by the Public Policy Establish of California,  the decline is mainly because children are spending less time in foster care than before, and not because fewer children are inbound the arrangement. California's emphasis on family unit preservation and reunification is the principle reason for the reduced time children spend in foster care.

How long do children spend in the foster care system?

Most children are in foster care temporarily. When children under the historic period of eighteen leave foster care, most of them return to their parents. Others are permanently adopted by their foster parents or others. Only a small proportion of children are still in care when they plow 18. These immature people then have the option to remain in the system as "Non-minor Dependents," until they turn 21.

Where do most children in foster care live?

Children in foster intendance live in a variety of settings, and may be discipline to frequent moves, which is particularly disruptive for their educational activity. In California, courts and social workers try to place children with extended family unit or a "non-relative extended family member," an adult who has a connection to the family or established relationship with the child.

The social worker is responsible for identifying and assessing these placements and makes a recommendation to the court, which and then makes the concluding decision. Children may also be placed with licensed foster families or in group homes. Counties in California also take the flexibility to help young people over the age of 16 with housing as function of the Independent Living Program.

How exercise foster youth compare to other students academically?

Children in care are frequently subject to changes in placement, which may require a change in schools and can have a disruptive effect on bookish outcomes. On average, children in foster care fare less well in school than other students.

On the state's standardized tests in English language language arts and mathematics, students in foster intendance on average consistently score lower than the general student population.

In 2017-18, only 23 pct of students in foster care met or exceeded the standards on the Smarter Balanced tests for English language linguistic communication arts administered to students in certain grades each leap, compared to 50 pct of all students statewide. In math, only 14 percentage of students met or exceeded the standards, compared to 36 percent of all students statewide.

How are foster youth doing on other measures of schoolhouse performance?

Students in foster intendance have a chronic absenteeism charge per unit of double the statewide average, and are suspended at four times the statewide rate. Simply 59 percent of 12th-graders in foster care graduated high school with their cohort in 2018, compared to 83 percent of all students.

California's new Higher/Career indicator shows that only 13.iii pct of foster youth were prepared for higher and careers, compared to 42 per centum of all students in 2018.

What does the law require school districts to practice for foster youth?

Nether a 2003 California law (AB 490), all county offices of education and schoolhouse districts must appoint an educational liaison to ensure proper enrollment, transfer and placement of foster children in their schools.

Before this law, when students in care were suddenly moved to a new placement and had to alter schools, their academic records, credits and grades ofttimes were not transferred in a timely manner. Equally a result, the students were often not assigned to appropriate classes and did not receive essential academic services.

The law places shared responsibility on county social services departments and local instruction agencies to ensure that school officials are notified chop-chop and the student'due south academic records are received by the new school within ii days of a transfer.

The law too mandates that students be allowed to remain in their original schoolhouse unless the adult authorized to make educational decisions for the kid, the social worker, and the courtroom decide a change of schoolhouse is in the child'south best involvement.

In 2013, California became the first state in the nation to specifically include students in foster intendance as i of the pupil groups that are entitled to additional funding. Under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), school districts receive supplemental funding for four groups of high-needs students: depression-income, homeless, English learners and students in foster care.

However, students in foster care are automatically deemed to be low-income and, because this funding is based on an "unduplicated count" of students, districts practice non receive additional funding if a student falls into more than than 1 category.

The funding formula police requires that each commune place foster youth enrolled in their schools and rail their performance — along with that of other student groups — on a range of functioning indicators, including suspension and graduation rates, scores on country standardized tests, and preparation for college and careers.

Although the funding formula provides funding based on the number of loftier-needs students, information technology does not mandate that districts set aside specific proportions for foster youth. Many districts have not earmarked funding for foster youth aside from general funding for high-needs students.

At the same fourth dimension, however, the Local Control Funding Formula police force requires that districts address low performance by children in foster intendance and other targeted student groups.

They must gear up functioning goals in their Local Control and Accountability Plans, or LCAPS, which they fill out annually, and detail the programs and services they volition provide, along with the spending needed to meet the goals.

Some districts have used their funds to direct target foster youth past hiring counselors and case managers and creating programs to benefit those students.

Strategies include efforts to meliorate schoolhouse climate to make these students feel welcome and to provide them with time outside of class to connect with supportive staff. Some districts prepare bated transportation funding then that students who move to a new home tin continue to nourish the same schoolhouse. A law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October requires a foster youth's guardians to consider school transportation in determining what'due south in the educatee's all-time interest.

Can foster students receive services and back up afterward they turn eighteen?

Yes. Under a 2010 California constabulary (AB 12) young people who are in foster care or under jurisdiction of a juvenile court on their 18th birthday tin remain in the arrangement until they plough 21 every bit "non-minor dependents" and continue to receive support services such as housing and clothing stipends, case direction, counseling and access to MediCal coverage if they see ane of five criteria.

These include existence enrolled in high schoolhouse or an equivalency program, being enrolled in higher or a vocational plan, participating in a program designed to help remove barriers to employment, or being employed and working at least lxxx hours a month. If a medical status prevents a youth from coming together any of these criteria, they are still eligible to remain in the system.

Are benefits available to foster youth when they attend college?

Yes. Current and old foster youth every bit well every bit students who are or were homeless are guaranteed priority enrollment at all community colleges and CSU campuses if they come across admissions requirements. The law "requests" merely does non require UC campuses to also provide priority registration to these students. These students may also exist eligible for priority access to on-campus housing.

Current and former foster youth under the historic period of 25 may also qualify for free tuition at the University of California and the California Land University every bit a result of a state law passed in 2022 (Senate Pecker 967).

In 2018, California expanded the eligibility for students in the foster intendance organization applying for Cal Grants. Equally a result, these students are eligible for Cal Grants for 8 years of full-time enrollment instead of four. Additionally, they tin apply for Cal Grants until they are 26, rather than inside a year after graduating high schoolhouse, which is the case with other students.

At the community college level, each of California's 115 campuses has a foster youth liaison to provide academic back up, aid students admission financial aid and assistance them with living independently. California'south NextUp program provides fiscal assistance in the form of grants for books, supplies and other unmet needs, along with housing assist, tutoring and a number of other services at just under l customs colleges.

The Transitional Housing Program-Plus too offers financial help to former foster students until they turn 24, although the number of students the program tin can assist is limited.

EdSource staff members John Fensterwald and Smita Patel contributed to this guide.

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