Only 50 percent of children in the foster care system graduate high school due to the state’s chronic educational neglect. We fight to replace this neglect with policies that protect a child’s right to learn. Reforms include securing the right for children to remain in their school of origin, mandating the immediate transfer of records, requiring acceptance of partial credits, and ensuring immediate special education evaluations.
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More than sympathy, Fostering the Future Accounts offer hope
Published in The Hill. History does not always arrive with fanfare. Sometimes it arrives softly and humbly, and only in hindsight does the landmark moment become clear. That is how it came earlier this month, when First Lady Melania Trump announced Fostering the Future Accounts, a new path to savings accounts for children in foster care. [...]
Stop holding children back
Only 40% of children in foster care graduate from high school on time in Arizona. The way to solve that problem is by making sure simple
We Can Reduce the Need for Special Education through Better Drug Treatment
Pregnant women struggling with addiction need early and effective paths to sobriety. This would both decrease the effects of drug exposure in the infants and decrease the likelihood of foster care by giving moms a longer runway for recovery.
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Model Reforms
Executive Summary Children have a right to education. However, children in foster care struggle to fully benefit from this fundamental right. In Arizona, children who experience foster care have the lowest on-time graduation of any demographic, including homeless children. Specifically, fewer than half (41.2%) of children in foster care who were members of the class [...]
Executive Summary Every child deserves a safe and loving home, but far too many live in homes that are unhealthy and unsafe—often from birth. These are children who were born exposed to drugs, which can have long-lasting impacts including damage to the brain’s structure and functioning. Unsurprisingly, foster youth are classified as disabled at high [...]
Executive Summary Youth in foster care face an uphill battle in educational attainment. Abuse, ongoing trauma, and unstable living arrangements contribute to poor outcomes for foster youth. Foster children move from one home to another an average of two to three times while in care, and one-third of older youth experience five or more school [...]
BACKGROUND By every educational achievement measure, Arizona’s children in foster care place near last among other at-risk student groups – including those experiencing homelessness, those in poverty, and those who speak English only as a second language. The collective adversities facing children in foster care are distinct from other at-risk populations. Many foster children change [...]