The Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program (FYSCP) provides a variety of educational case management, advocacy, and technical assistance services to local school districts and charter schools; Placer County Children's System of Care (CSOC); youth in foster care; and caregivers of youth in foster care. The PCOE team is co-located at CSOC and provides “Dual Customer" supports to both local schools and county child welfare workers/probation officers.
Foster Youth Education Rights:
Youth in foster care have poorer educational outcomes than their non-foster peers. Foster students have some of the lowest graduation rates, highest dropout rates, highest suspension and expulsion rates, and lowest academic achievement among student sub-groups.. Youth in foster care face significant barriers to educational success, including multiple home placement changes which can also lead to unexpected school transfers; experiences of trauma that can be both the reason for and exacerbated by child welfare or juvenile justice system involvement; and multiple, complex needs related to health, mental health, housing, family systems, and learning. For these reasons, students in foster care are afforded a number of educational rights as a means of bringing equity to their educational experience. These rights include:
- The right to stay in the same school after they move to a new foster care placement. The“school of origin” can be:
- The school they attended when they first entered foster care
- The school they most recently attended, or
- Any school they attended in the last 15 months that they feel connected to and is in their best interest to attend
- The right to immediate enrollment, even if they don’t have all the required documentation at the time of enrollment
- The right to partial credits
- The right to be assessed for a graduation exemption, if they transfer school after their 2nd year of high school
- The right to equal access to school, extended learning, and extracurricular activities and resources (e.g. tutoring, school dances, field trips, sports)
- Foster youth’s County Social Worker/Probation Officer and Minor’s Attorney must be notified if they are facing suspension, expulsion, or any disciplinary action that results in out-of-school time
For more information on these educational outcomes, needs, rights, and strategies, see the Documents and Links tab.
