Chapter 13: Best Practices in Working with Children Living in Foster Care
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State and federal goals are:
o Reunifying children with their families of origin when possible
o Terminate parental rights and secure adoptive families if necessary
o Create stable trajectories for children rather than allowing them to linger in more
temporary foter homes for countles years
Foster Care Child’s Profile
o Median age is 8.8 years
o Male > female
o Caucasian, African American, and Hispanics
o Remain in care for 13.5 months or 23.9 months
o 5% of children emancipate from the fostre care system when they age out at 18 – 21
years old
NASP Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services domain of Diversity
in Development and Learning
o Problem-solving approach that impolements multiple tiers of interventtions will best
meet the unique needs of this population of students
o School psychologists must be aware of the legislative requirements to better serve
students living in foster care
Problems and outcomes face by children in foster care
o Common factors of foster care – poverty, homelessness, physical and mental health
problems, criminal involvement as perpetrators or victims, young parenthood, and
intergeneration child welfare system involvement
o Early literacy delays with no guarantee of receiving earlychildhood intervention or
preventive educational programs
o Child in foster care lsnds in early childhood servicces because has been identified with a
disability
 31% of children qualify for disabilities in foster care, while only 13% of children
birth to 21 years old are the national average
 Legislative solution – children in foster care qualify for Head Start independent
of household income
o Poor psychoeducational outcomes are higher
 Maltrealment rick increases with students with disabilities or emotionalhebavioral disabilitie with cognitive disabilities
o Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP’s) tend to have discontinuity and
lacking of coordination of services from the school setting to the child’s foster care
setting
o 33% of students in foster care are retained at least once in their academic careers
 An estimate of 10% of older high schoolers have been retained
o 24% of cildren in foster care have been suspended or expelled at least once
 The national average is 7% annually
 Possible reason – negative assumptions made when entering the school setting
o Results from ALL factors = majority of students emancipating from foster care wihtout a
high school diploma or GED
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The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth –
shows that people from 17 to 26 gain their high school education later on. (83%
foster care vs 85% national average)
 College completion is 11% foster care vs 28% national average
o Common side effects from foster care placement
 Grief responses to losses
 Traumatic responses (internalizing and externalizing behavior) to abnormal
experiences of maltreatment or removal
 Problematic attachment styles
o Survival and resilience are characteriistics required from the children in order to come
out healthy and succesful
 Early arrests, school enrollment, and placement instability are factors for the
child to fail
Legislature passed for children in foster care
o 2008 Fostering Connection to Succcess and Increasing Adoptions Act
 States must provide care with educational stability plans
 If not necessery, the child must remain in original school setting
 If moved to new school, the child must be immediately moved and all
school records given to the new school setting
 Foster care may be extended until 21 years old if maintaining employment,
vocational training, or postsecondary education
 90 days prior to the 18 birthday to develop a transition plan
o 1999 John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act – amended Title IV-E of the Soial
Security Act
 States must provide funding on a voluntary basis to improve transition services
for secondary age students
 Medicaid and money for room and board are extended until 21 years old
o 2001 McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvement Act
 Stable education for children who are homeless and are presented without
complete documentation
 Schools must provide transportation to facilitate student’s attendance
o 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
 IDEA Part B – local education agencies to provide students 3 to 21 with
educational disabilities with a FAPE in the local education agency’s least
restrictive environment
 IDEA Part C – need for early intervention for infants and toddlers with delayed
development
School psychologists’ role when working with children living in Foster Care
o Services given to the student depend on their developmental levels
 Preschool – preventive and geared towards ensuring early childhood
programming or interventions
 Elementary – accademic and behavioral intervention within a problem-solving
and multitired framework that minimazies risks and maximizes resilience
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Secondary – targeted planning for emancipation from foster care must being,
also known as transition plannnig
o Consider the students needs holistically (interwebbing between academic, behavioral,
and mental health needs)
Early childhood education and intervention
o Essential for offsetting psychoeducational challenges developed
o Children can benefit from a frequent, higher quality cognitive stimulation and healthier
social-emotional experiencess with peers nad adults
 Consistent, caring staff may help a student experience positie attachment with
caregivers
o Foster parents may participate in early childhood programs to understand the demands
of aring for the children in their charge
 Results from the programs are (a) retention of foster parents, (b) prevention of
movement of children between multiple placement, (c) give foster parents
opportunity to seek additional emplotment and income to help with household
management, and (d) give foster children the much needed jump start to
preprate for elementary school years.
Elementary education and Intervention
o Aacademic and behavioral interventions withing a problem-solving and multitiered
framework that minimizes speciaul education identification, grade retention, and
suspension and expulsion may be helpful
 Important to alliviate grief, trauma, internalizing and externalizing behaviors
that affect social skills, problem solving skills, conflict resoliution, and anger
management skills if not intervined
o Connecting student with extracurricular activities helps decrease time and motivation
for delinquent behaviors and increases oisitive reinforcement with foster parents
Secondary Education and Interventions
o Centralize on identifying, intervining, and progres monitoring academic, behavioral, and
mental helath concerns
o Coordination and provision of life skills training for once they leave foster care
o Independent Living Services
 Not all districts or counties offer independent living services
 Areas of focus:
 Job searching and maintainace
 Housekeeping
o How to budget and manage finances
 Educational planning
 School psychologists may help impart with professional servcices or mentors
o Transition Planning
 If the child has an IEP, then by the IDEA standards, the child at the age of 16
must be an active participant in the creation of the transition plan
 Postsecondary goals include education/training, employment, and
independent living as appropriate to a case-by-case.
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School psychologists must ensure that the child is an active participant in their
transition planning
 The youth requires empowerment and promotion of autonomous levels
of being
College and Vocational Preparation
 School psychologists can offset the negative impact on a child being in the foster
care
 Worforce-bound students – job shadowing, school-to-work programs, and
vocational training
 Assisting with creating a resume, conducting a job search, and interviewing
techniques
 Federal programs that help with workforce-bound students
 Workforce Investment Act centers
 Job Corps
 Conservation Corps
 The Peace Corps
 AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps
 Military
 Promote to the student taking required courses, APs, and high school courses
for college courses
 Additional interventions to enhance time management and study skills might be
helpful also
 Federal TRIO Programs – help low-income students access higher education, if
none are accessible, then the school psychologists along with a team of school
and social workers can contact colleges or universities for furhter information
 Talent Search
 Upward Bound
 Educational Opportunity Centers
 Children have opportunity to apply to scholarships or have their tuition waiver
as a former foste care child
 School psychologists must cover all sorts of finances faced by the
students as an independent entity once entering college
 Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the Education and Training
Vouchers – Chafee Act (up to $5,000)
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Case study: Jayden and Izzie
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Children
o Jayden – 8 year old, second grade student
 Arrived to Mcclelland Elementary School in November
 Did not receive any targeted intervention within the context of an early
childhood classroom previous school
o Izzie – 3 year old, younger sister of Jayden
 Different father than Jayden
Home situtation
o Izzie’s father threw Jayden across the room causing bruising in the face
o Two children are removed from the home in October
 Unknown caller reported to the county child welface office
o Mother had a methamphetamine addiction
o Jayden’s father is incarcerated
Child Welfare Office action
o Not allow Izzie’s father in the house
o Seek drug treatment
New school setting
o New more permanent foster home for both siblings
o Teacher notices difficulty in reading and following directions with Jayden
School psychologists
o Informs foster parents of early childhood education resources and community-based
services within the district
o Screen and assess the needs of the child
 Be aware that the child needs time to adjust and requires sensitive materials to
develop and open up
o Consultation with foster parents about more targerted intervention if needed
o Check in can start on a daily basis, then decreased to a weekly basis
 Build connection with new school and with a positive adult in the new setting
o Discuss with foster parents about possible extracurricular activities and how to meet the
needs of the child in their care
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1. National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Model for Comprehensive and Integrated
School Psychological Services
2. Legislation
3. Average Child in Foster Care
4. Early Childhood Education and Intervention
5. Elementary Education and Intervention
6. Secondary Education and Intervention
7. Systematic Change
References
Scherr, T. G. (2014). Best practices in working with children living in foster care. In N. P. Manual, P. L.
Harrison, & A. Thomas (Eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology: Foundations (pp. 169-179).
Bethesda, Maryland: National Association of School Psychologists.
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