Maggie

Her love of fiction now might surprise the teachers who watched Maggie struggle to read. With a permanent home and a supportive charter school, she approaches junior high with bright prospects despite trauma that started in her earliest years.

Maggie entered foster care at age 3, bouncing from placement to placement and school to school. During kindergarten and first grade alone, she changed schools four times.

Children in foster care require special education services twice as often as their non-fostered peers.

By third grade, Maggie still couldn’t read. And she was routinely expelled for disruptive behavior, even with clear evidence that she needed to be in the classroom receiving extra support—not punishment.

We advocate for states to create specific laws in education and child welfare that will topple barriers to educational stability.

Fortunately, an adoptive family has given Maggie the stability she desperately needed. They got her into a charter school with trauma-informed programs. Today, Maggie is filling gaps in her early education, with teachers and parents who see her potential and understand her unique needs.