Children and youth involved with the child welfare system are also served by their local school districts. Educational outcomes for children in foster care can be improved through collaborations between the child welfare and educational systems. This section contains resources and information about these collaborations that improve services and outcomes for children, including State and local examples.
Child Welfare Toolkit for Early Education Professionals (PDF - 23,091 KB)
Collaborative.org (2015)
Provides materials and tools for educators to better collaborate with the child welfare system and high-risk children ages birth to five, including understanding the impact of early abuse and neglect, outlining guidelines for mandated reporters, ensuring continuity in early care and education, and more.
Ensuring Education Stability for Children in Foster Care: Effective Collaboration [Video]
U.S. Departments of Education & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2016)
Centers on the effective collaboration between education and child welfare agencies required to successfully support the educational stability of children in foster care. This webinar also featured representatives from the American Bar Association's Legal Center on Foster Care and Education, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and the Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families.
FosterEd
Provides information and resources on promoting access to quality education for system-involved youth through system improvements and collaboration across multiple public systems, including child welfare, education, probation, mental health, and judicial agencies. The project operates demonstrates sites with interagency and cross-system teams to support the educational success of youth.
Fostering Success in Education: National Factsheet on the Educational Outcomes of Children in Foster Care (PDF - 511 KB)
National Working Group on Foster Care and Education (2018)
Summarizes the changes that have taken place over the past decade—as well as the growing number of Federal and State laws that provide rights and protection to children in foster care—in order to enhance the efficiency of data sharing and collaboration between educational and child welfare agencies.
Roadmap for Foster Care and K–12 Data Linkages: Key Focus Areas to Ensure Quality Implementation (PDF - 414 KB)
Data Quality Campaign & Legal Center for Foster Care and Education (2017)
Highlights the importance and benefits of child welfare and educational agencies sharing data and working together to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. Offers suggestions for ways to improve and build linkages between agencies when additional resources are available.
Supporting Students in Foster Care: Collaboration Between Education and Child Welfare Agencies Is Key
Data Quality Campaign (2015)
Explains the importance of sharing education and aggregate-level data among child welfare and State education agencies to be able to better collaborate and improve outcomes for children and youth. The brief concludes with an example of improved practice in California.
What Is Child Welfare? A Guide for Educators
What Is the Every Student Succeeds Act and How Does School Stability Affect Children in Foster Care?
Casey Family Programs (2017)
Discusses the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2016 and the new requirement for school districts to share with child welfare agencies the responsibility to ensure the educational stability of students in out-of-home care.
State and local examples
Collaboration Between Schools and Child Welfare Agencies in Florida to Address the Educational Needs of Children in Foster Care (PDF - 2,294 KB)
Steward & Thorrington (2016)
University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository
Presents the findings from a study on the interagency collaboration and information sharing among the foster care liaisons and education specialists in nine counties in Florida. The study details the features and mechanism of successful collaboration across public systems.
Educational Stability for Foster Youth in Pennsylvania
Provides information on a joint initiative and decision-making protocol of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and the Center for Schools and Communities to promote educational stability for youth in foster care through cross-system collaboration.
Foster Care Education
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Outlines the Federal requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act to ensure educational stability for youth in foster care and North Carolina’s response by developing joint guidance and State point-of-contacts within the child welfare and education agencies. A webinar covering the collaborative efforts in North Carolina is also available.