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Recommendations for Improving Education Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster Care |
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Center for Law and Social Policy With no federal law to ensure school stability and access to supportive services for children in foster care there is often as much movement among schools as there is in living arrangements. The reauthorization of Title X, Part C of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McKinney-Vento) provides an opportunity to do both and to better address the needs of children and youth in foster care. Children and youth who are eligible for McKinney-Vento have access to supports for school success that many children involved in child welfare lack: school stability or immediate enrollment if stability is not possible, school staff charged with ensuring their prompt enrollment, and more. While these protections currently apply to a subset of children involved in foster care, including those "awaiting foster care placement," states have defined this phrase differently. The recommendation to explicitly include all children in out of home care in the eligibility definition will ensure that these protections are available to all foster children, wherever they live.
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