FOSTER CARE LIAISONS: ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
DAVID RAY
REGION 10 ESC
DAVID.RAY@REGION10.ORG
972.348.1786
NON-AGENDA
 We will not spend any time discussing the moral or ethical pros and cons with regards to providing services to
students in foster care situations.
AGENDA
 Foster Care liaison responsibilities

Awareness, guidance and training

Determining eligibility and identification

Enrollment Procedures

Access to Services

Collaboration with TXDFPS and your community
 Who should be the foster care liaison?
 Managing the work of the foster care liaison
FEDERAL LAW (FOSTERING CONNECTIONS TO SUCCESS AND INCREASING
ADOPTIONS ACT OF 2008, PUBLIC LAW 110-35I) SAYS…
 Emphasis on the importance of school stability, maintaining the school in which the child was enrolled at the time
of placement
 The need for coordination between state and regional child welfare and
state and local education agencies
 Assurance that the placements take into account the appropriateness of the current education setting and
proximity to the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement in foster care
 Ensure immediate and appropriate enrollment by child welfare and local education agencies, and provide ALL of
the child’s education records to the new school, if remaining in the same school is not in the child’s best interest
OTHER FEDERAL PROVISIONS
 Nutrition Assistance
 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) - Uninterrupted Scholars Act
STATE LAW (TEXAS EDUCATION CODE) SAYS…
 Data sharing and data collection requirements in PEIMS
 Immediate school enrollment without records
 Attendance in the school the student was enrolled immediately before entering conservatorship even when
placed outside of the district attendance zone, until the student successfully completes the highest grade level
offered by the school
 Excused absences for court-ordered appointments
 11th or 12th grade student who transfers to a new school district and does not meet the graduation requirements
of the new school district may request a diploma from the former school district, when on-track to graduate at
the previous school
STATE LAW (TEXAS EDUCATION CODE) SAYS…
 Free eligibility for Pre-K
 Accelerated instruction (at-risk indicators and compensatory education)
 Free lifetime college tuition and fees waiver. The waiver is activated when a student enrolls in dual credit or
another course where a student may earn college credit.
 School districts and open enrollment charter schools are required to appoint a
Foster Care Liaison and notify TEA of their Foster Care Liaison appointment
 Transition Assistance from one school to another of students in foster care
IN SUMMARY, THE LEA ROLE INCLUDES…
 Awareness, Guidance and Training
 Determining Eligibility and Identification in PEIMS
 Enrollment
 Records Sharing and Acquisition
 Student Access to Services
 Informing students and families about graduation and college tuition aides
 Transition help from one school to the next
 Collaboration with the Community
AWARENESS, GUIDANCE AND TRAINING
 Does TEA have a record of your FoLi? (Register on the TEA website:
http://tea.texas.gov/FosterCareStudentSuccess/liaisons/
 Does the district know who the FoLi is?

Campus Administrators

Special Education Department

Homeless Liaisons
 Does the CPS Educational Specialists/ Caseworkers/ other agencies know who the FoLi is?
AWARENESS, GUIDANCE AND TRAINING
 Become aware yourself

Print and Read the Foster Care and Student Success Guide (TEA Website)

Confirm/correct information on AskTED directory

Attend new webinars and view previously recorded webinars at www.region10.org/mvh

Review the TEA’s website (fact sheets)

Call Region 10 or your own ESC
AWARENESS, GUIDANCE AND TRAINING
 Within your district or charter school…

Is it policy? If not, write it!

Turn policy into procedures...train staff on these procedures

Who needs to know about these procedures?

Schedule appropriate staff training

Staff work best following flow-chart or step-by-step type procedures

Begin to take ownership of procedures and have fun!

Evaluate procedures for continued efficacy
DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY AND IDENTIFICATION
 Use available guidance from TEA on acceptable and unacceptable documentation
 Review unacceptable documentation for possible homelessness and coordinate with LEA homeless liaison
 Guidance from TEA on PEIMS coding for Students in Foster Care
 Guidance from the THEO on determining status for students involved with CPS but not in Foster Care
ENROLLMENT
 Create procedures and train enrollment staff on enrollment provisions

Immediate enrollment

Acceptable Documentation
 Create procedures for accessing previous school records

TREX

Coordination with other HoLis

Student Survey’s to determine appropriate classes
ENROLLMENT
 Create procedures to help clients consider available schools/ school selection
 Create procedures for aiding in best interest school selection
RECORDS SHARING AND ACQUISITION
 An amendment to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Uninterrupted Scholars Act
(USA) (January 2013), allows educational agencies and institutions to disclose a student’s education records to
child welfare case workers or other representatives of a state or local child welfare agency. An agency or
organization legally responsible for the care and protection of the student is allowed access to education records.
Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) staff, the child’s caregiver, attorney ad litem, Court
Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and others identified by the court order are all examples. Additionally, USA
permits educational agencies and institutions to disclose a student’s education records. Educational agencies and
institutions would not be required to have parental consent because of a court order. The court would have given
the parent notice in specific types of court proceedings. These changes also apply to the confidentiality provisions
identified in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). School staff must follow FERPA regulations when
releasing school-related information.
ACCESS TO SERVICES
 Nutrition Services

Automatic eligibility (USDA)

Create procedures for communicating foster care status with nutrition department
ACCESS TO SERVICES
 At-Risk

Data collection of student need

Planning with Campus and District Improvement Committees

Data—Data—Data—Data

Student stories
ACCESS TO SERVICES
 Access to Services or actual School Success?
 Beyond the Basics: How Extracurricular Activities Can Benefit Foster Youth
 Confronting Stereotypes of Youth in Foster Care (video), Catholic Family Center addresses school related
stereotypes, 11:44 min.
 Behavioral RTI? School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)? Resiliency? Trauma Informed
Care?
 Overall school climate considered when creating policy and procedures?
INFORMING STUDENTS AND FAMILIES ABOUT GRADUATION AND
COLLEGE
 11th or 12th grade student who transfers to a new school district and does not meet the graduation
requirements of the new school district may request a diploma from the former school district, when on-track to
graduate at the previous school - TEC § 28.025
 Procedures for assessing the graduation requirements for students in Foster Care
INFORMING STUDENTS AND FAMILIES ABOUT GRADUATION AND
COLLEGE
 Free lifetime college tuition and fees waiver. The waiver is activated when a student enrolls in dual credit or
another course where a student may earn college credit- TEC § 54.366
 Procedures for determining appropriateness of college level courses for students in high school
 Procedures for informing students and families of their right
TRANSITION HELP FROM ONE SCHOOL TO THE NEXT
 http://tea.texas.gov/FosterCareStudentSuccess/laws/
 Scroll down to Supporting Successful Transitions
COLLABORATION WITH TXDFPS AND COMMUNITY
 Caseworkers
 Educational Specialists
 Other LEA FoLis
 Foster Parents
 Possibly Biological Parents
 Foster Support Groups in the Community
COLLABORATION WITH TXDFPS AND COMMUNITY
 Be visible, create awareness and develop ownership of your program
 Develop a positive working atmosphere
 Listen to their concerns
 Create written procedures when necessary
WHO SHOULD BE THE FOSTER CARE LIAISON?
 Ability to look at policy and help guide procedure
 Proper level of authority to communicate with campus administration and nutrition leaders
 Proper level of authority to call and lead meetings with registrars, PEIMS and other enrollment staff
 Understanding of trauma informed care
 Ability to develop relationships with TXDFPS educational specialists and other welfare workers
 Ability to develop relationships with parents and students in crisis
 Has available time to fulfill duties
 Ability to separate personal feelings from what maintains a professional atmosphere, client dignity and school
compliance
MANAGING THE WORKLOAD
 Hands on, Campus-Active Foster Care Liaisons
 Delegator, Administrative Foster Care Liaisons
MANAGING THE WORKLOAD
 Emphasis on policy turned into procedure
 Train staff on appropriate procedures and provide with step-by-step, manualized, guidance
 Refine procedures over time using data culled from multiple sources including incident reports and staff surveys