Foster Care and Education Stability

Special protections for students in foster care -- and how school staff can help

For paraprofessionals supporting students involved with the child welfare system

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| The frameStudents in foster care change schools at far higher rates than their peers -- sometimes multiple times per year. Each move disrupts learning, severs relationships, and widens achievement gaps. Federal law now includes specific requirements to reduce those disruptions and protect educational continuity. School staff -- including paras -- play a role in making the law real for the students who need it most. |

Why this brief

Children in foster care have some of the worst educational outcomes of any group in the United States. High rates of school mobility, frequent placement changes, disrupted relationships with teachers and peers, and high rates of unaddressed trauma and disability all contribute. Congress responded by including specific foster care education provisions in ESSA (the Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015).

Paras often don't know whether a student they support is in foster care -- and they may not need to know. But understanding the general framework helps paras recognize patterns that matter, respond appropriately when they do learn about a student's status, and treat these students with the care they deserve.

Who this brief is for

Paraprofessionals working with students at any grade level

Paras who work with students who seem to have frequent placement or school changes

Anyone supporting a student who is in a challenging home situation or who has multiple adult caregivers

Paras in districts with significant child welfare involvement

Foster care basics

Foster care is a system of temporary residential care for children who cannot safely remain with their birth parents or guardians. Children may be placed with foster families, in group homes, or with relatives (kinship care). Placements can last days, months, or years.

In the United States, approximately 400,000 children are in foster care on any given day. These students are disproportionately students of color, students with disabilities, and students who have experienced significant trauma. Nearly half of students in foster care receive special education services.

Why educational stability matters so much

Research consistently shows that:

Students in foster care change schools an average of 7 to 8 times by the time they age out of care

Each school change results in significant learning loss -- often 4 to 6 months of academic disruption per move

Students who maintain school stability while in foster care have substantially better outcomes

Loss of school relationships is one of the most destabilizing aspects of placement changes for children

ESSA foster care education provisions

The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) added Title I Part A provisions specifically for students in foster care. These are sometimes called the 'Fostering Connections' provisions (after earlier legislation) or simply ESSA's foster care requirements.

Point of contact

Each local education agency (district) must designate a point of contact for child welfare agencies. Each child welfare agency (such as the state's foster care system) must also designate an education liaison. These two people are responsible for coordinating the school-related decisions that affect students in foster care.

Best Interest Determination

When a student in foster care moves to a new placement, the school district and child welfare agency must make a Best Interest Determination (BID) -- a formal decision about which school the student should attend.

The BID takes into account:

The student's preference and the preferences of their parent, guardian, or foster caregiver

The distance to the school

The age and grade of the student

The student's current school performance and progress

Any special needs the student has (including IEP services)

Other factors that bear on the student's best interest

The goal is to keep the student at their school of origin whenever possible and in their best interest -- but it is an individualized decision, not an automatic rule.

School of origin

As with McKinney-Vento, students in foster care have the right to remain at their school of origin when a placement change occurs. The school of origin is the school the student attended when they entered foster care or the school they most recently attended.

If the BID determines it is in the student's best interest to stay at the school of origin, the student stays -- even across district lines

The district of origin and the district of residence must work out transportation and funding

If the BID determines a school change is in the student's best interest, immediate enrollment in the new school is required -- again without delays for missing documents

Immediate enrollment

Just like McKinney-Vento, foster care students must be immediately enrolled in their new school if a placement change requires a school change. Missing records, immunization documentation, or proof of placement cannot delay enrollment.

Transportation

If a student in foster care remains at their school of origin after a placement change and transportation is needed, the district must provide or arrange transportation. If two districts are involved, they must coordinate -- the student cannot be left without a way to get to school during the coordination process.

Students in foster care and special education

Students in foster care have very high rates of disability. When a student with an IEP enters a new placement and may need to change schools:

The BID must take the student's IEP into account

If a school change occurs, the new district must provide comparable services immediately (same IDEA requirement that applies to any school-to-school transfer)

The student's IEP team should be convened as quickly as possible if a new IEP is needed

Placement in the most appropriate school may be influenced by where the student can receive their IEP services

The intersection of foster care and special education requires coordination between the education liaison, the McKinney-Vento liaison (if the student is also experiencing homelessness), the IEP team, and the child welfare caseworker.

Information sharing

Schools and child welfare agencies can share information about students in foster care -- but there are rules:

FERPA allows schools to share educational records with child welfare agencies without parental consent when a student is in foster care

The child welfare agency is treated as a school official with a legitimate educational interest

This allows the foster care caseworker to obtain school records needed for the BID and educational planning

It does not allow sharing with anyone who isn't involved in the student's care

For paras: the caseworker or foster parent may contact the school about a student's needs or progress. You should direct those contacts to the teacher, principal, or the district's foster care point of contact. Do not share detailed information about a student's academic performance, behavior, or disability status without going through proper channels.

Trauma-informed perspective on foster care

Students in foster care have almost universally experienced significant adversity. Removal from parents -- even in dangerous situations -- is traumatic. Placement changes are traumatic. Uncertainty about the future is traumatic.

Common patterns to understand:

Attachment disruption: students in foster care have often had multiple caregiver relationships disrupted. They may struggle to trust adults or may form attachments quickly and intensely. Both can look like behavioral problems.

Hypervigilance: students who have lived in unsafe environments are often hyperalert to threat. They may overreact to perceived slights, be easily startled, or have difficulty focusing.

Grief and loss: even students in stable foster placements are grieving -- the loss of parents, siblings, pets, neighborhoods, and schools. That grief doesn't always look like sadness.

Shame: stigma around foster care is real. Students may not want peers or teachers to know their status.

Brief 05.14 (Trauma-Informed Support) covers these dynamics in more detail. The core principle: relationship first, regulation second, learning third.

The para's role

Paras are not case managers, liaisons, or child welfare staff. But they play an important role:

Be a consistent, warm, predictable presence -- especially for a student who has experienced a lot of inconsistency

Notice and report changes in behavior, attendance, or affect that might signal a placement change or crisis

Keep the student's foster care status confidential -- do not discuss it with other students or staff who don't need to know

Direct caseworkers, foster parents, or others who contact the school about the student to the appropriate contact (teacher, principal, district liaison)

When you learn a student is in foster care, do not treat them differently in ways that signal their status to peers

Understand that behavioral difficulties may reflect trauma history, not willful defiance

Common misconceptions

'Foster kids are in the system because of something they did'

Children enter foster care because of parental abuse, neglect, or incapacity -- not because of the child's behavior. They did not choose their situation and they are not to blame for it.

'The foster parent is the legal guardian, so I deal with them'

Legal guardianship in foster care is complex. The state may retain legal custody. The foster parent may have day-to-day decision-making authority. There may be a biological parent still involved. For education-related decisions -- especially those involving special education -- the district's foster care contact and the caseworker need to be part of the process.

'I should ask the student about their home situation to understand them better'

Well-intentioned questions about a student's foster care situation can cause harm. The student may not want to discuss it, may be confused about their situation, or may feel interrogated. Follow the student's lead. If they want to talk, listen. If they don't, don't push.

'Stability means nothing can change for this student'

The BID framework aims for stability but acknowledges that school changes are sometimes necessary. What matters is that the decision is intentional, informed, and in the student's best interest -- not that it always results in staying put.

Pitfalls

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| Try this | Watch out for |

| Be a consistent, warm presence -- especially after a placement change | Ask students about their home situation out of curiosity or concern |

| Keep foster care status strictly confidential | Share a student's foster care status with peers, other parents, or uninvolved staff |

| Direct caseworkers or foster parents to the teacher or district contact | Answer caseworker questions about a student's services or progress yourself |

| Recognize trauma-related behavior for what it is | Treat oppositional or withdrawn behavior purely as a discipline issue |

| Report changes in behavior or attendance that might signal a difficult transition | Assume a student's situation is stable just because nothing was mentioned |

Scenarios

Scenario 1: A student arrives mid-year without any records

A 5th grader arrives on a Wednesday. The office staff says he is in foster care and his records haven't transferred. He has an IEP but no one has the document.

He must be enrolled immediately. The district must provide comparable services based on what is known about his prior IEP -- they cannot wait for the document. Alert the teacher and special education coordinator. The foster care liaison and caseworker should be contacted to expedite records. Your job is to give this student a warm, normal welcome while the paperwork is sorted out by the adults responsible for it.

Scenario 2: A student's foster parent shows up wanting to discuss her progress

A foster parent appears at the classroom door wanting to know how the student is doing academically and behaviorally.

The foster parent has a legitimate interest but this should go through proper channels. Greet them warmly, let them know the teacher is the right contact for this conversation, and offer to get the teacher or schedule a meeting. Do not share detailed information about the student's performance, behavior, or disability status directly.

Scenario 3: A student you support is placed in a new home and may need to transfer schools

The teacher tells you that a student's placement changed over the weekend. There's a question about whether she'll stay at this school or transfer to one closer to her new placement.

That decision is being made through the Best Interest Determination process -- it involves the district, the child welfare agency, and the student's caregiver. Your role is to continue supporting the student normally, treat any uncertainty about the transition matter-of-factly, and give her extra warmth and predictability while things are being sorted out.

Scenario 4: A student mentions that he doesn't like his foster home

A middle schooler tells you at lunch that he doesn't like living at his current placement and wants to move. He doesn't say anything about abuse.

Listen without alarm. Acknowledge his feelings. Do not promise anything, investigate, or advise. Let the teacher and school counselor know what was said -- it's not your call to assess whether this requires action, but it should be passed to people who can follow up appropriately. If he says anything that sounds like abuse or immediate danger, that moves into mandated reporting territory (see brief 13.02).

Closing thought

Students in foster care have often had the most important relationships and places in their lives disrupted repeatedly. School can be the one stable thing -- a building that is still there, an adult who still knows their name, a routine that has not changed.

You can't fix the child welfare system. But you can be steady. You can learn their name before they arrive. You can greet them at the door. You can not make a big deal of their situation in front of others. Sometimes that is everything.

Related briefs

02.09 McKinney-Vento and Students Experiencing Homelessness

05.14 Trauma-Informed Support

13.01 FERPA and Confidentiality

13.02 Mandated Reporting

15.07 Poverty and Schooling

07.06 Emotional Disturbance / EBD

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| Bottom lineESSA requires a Best Interest Determination when a student in foster care has a placement change -- defaulting toward school of origin stability when possible. Immediate enrollment is required; missing records cannot delay it. Transportation must be provided. Nearly half of students in foster care receive special education services; comparable services apply here too. Paras' roles are confidentiality, warm consistency, and directing contacts to the appropriate adults -- not case management or information sharing. |

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