This week the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will commence the long-awaited overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), otherwise known as No Child Left Behind. In the ESEA, there is an amendment that is critically important to students in foster care.  This group of students is significantly impacted by its status as foster children.  The majority of foster children – 67 percent – are of school age.  Research related to foster children’s education demonstrates that academic performance is significantly impacted by effects of abuse and neglect, detachment and abandonment issues, placement disruptions, as well as many of other factors.

With the expected introduction of Senator Al Franken's (D-MN) "Fostering Success in Education Amendment" this week, barriers that currently exist for foster children and youth to obtain a strong academic structure could be addressed.  Under the landmark Fostering Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, child welfare administrators are required to maintain a child in his or her school of origin whenever it is in his or her best interest, transfer records swiftly if a school move is deemed necessary, and ensure that children are re-enrolled quickly in an effort to provide continuity education. While state child welfare agencies were given requirements, the state education programs were not provided with any directives.  In August, the Administration of Children, Youth and Families and the Department of Education issued a letter encouraging collaboration between schools and the foster care system.

Sen. Franken's Fostering Success in Education Amendment would build on this movement towards inter-agency collaboration around children, with mandates on state departments of education that largely mirror those currently existing for child welfare administrations under Fostering Connections; namely, retaining children in their school of origin when in their best interest, rapid transfer of records and swift enrollment when a school move occurs. The amendment would further codify collaboration between state child welfare agencies and educational agencies by compelling their cooperation in transporting students in foster care to and from their school of best interest.