HARRISBURG Group: Let foster kids remain in 1 school

One young man was forced to move months before graduation, so he quit.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Advocates for children urged state lawmakers to pass legislation to allow foster children to remain enrolled in the public schools they attend if they are placed with families who live outside the school district.
Representatives of the Education Law Center and the Juvenile Law Center, both nonprofit organizations based in Philadelphia, made their case Monday before a legislative task force on services to children and youths.
The panel of state senators and representatives heard testimony from several advocacy groups and the Department of Public Welfare about the need to coordinate welfare programs across a spectrum of state agencies.
Janet Stotland, co-director of the Education Law Center, said problems of agency coordination arise for foster children when changes in their family placements affect their schooling. State law requires them to attend school in the district where their foster parents live.
"The two systems don't often pull together to give foster children the services they need," Stotland said.
Example
Suzanne M. Meiners, a staff attorney with the Juvenile Law Center shared as an example the plight of a student whom she identified only as Juan, who had been placed in five different foster homes and struggled academically as he changed schools.
Juan did "pretty well" in high school, but three months before graduation, he was moved to yet another foster home, said Meiners, who did not identify the school district where he was enrolled.
"He desperately wanted to graduate with his class, but his caseworker said 'no,'" she said. "Juan decided he had had enough ... and dropped out."
About 21,000 of Pennsylvania's school-age children are in foster care, according to the Public Welfare Department.
Stotland said Pennsylvania should follow the lead of California, which passed a state law last year intended to ensure that foster children have equal access to public education. The measure, which took effect in January, allows foster children to remain in their current school if their foster-family placement changes during the school year, as long as staying put is in the child's best interest, she said.
Under review
Children's advocates also would like to see the Department of Public Welfare adopt regulations to make it easier for foster children to enroll in public schools, similar to a measure recently adopted by the State Board of Education, Stotland said.
The education regulations, which are undergoing a final review before they are published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, establish for the first time a uniform deadline for schools to process the enrollment paperwork of all children, including foster children.
Under the new regulations, school districts and charter schools must enroll new pupils no later than five business days following an application, provided that the pupil's parent or guardian has supplied required documentation such as proof of age and immunization records.
The proposal also requires the school that the child previously attended to forward the pupil's records to the new school within five business days of receiving a request for the records.
CYF regulations needed
But the state's Office of Children, Youth and Families should have companion regulations so that foster care caseworkers can ensure that schools follow the new education rules, Stotland said.
Welfare Department spokeswoman Carey Miller said officials were in the process of revising its child welfare regulations, and that "ensuring that foster children receive appropriate educational services" was a priority, but she could not specify what changes the department might make.
Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, a task force member, said Stotland's call for new regulations "makes a lot of sense."
"I don't understand what would be an excuse for not transferring [a child's] records immediately," Mundy said.