Supporting Students in Foster Care

There are approximately 270,000 school-aged children in the foster care system, representing some of the most vulnerable students in our schools today. Many of these children have histories of trauma, abuse and neglect, and loss and require an additional level of support to develop resiliency. Simply being in foster care can create disruptions and barriers, influencing their personal and social development—all of which affect a student’s ability to be successful in school. With the proper resources, schools can serve as stable and safe environments where foster care children can gain their footing and thrive.
Timely Information
The Foster Care Exchange
Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, now requires each state educational agency to identify a foster care point of contact (POC), who is responsible for overseeing the educational stability of students in foster care. The Foster Care Exchange provides the opportunity for POCs to share questions and knowledge in chats or topical discussion threads, host conference calls, store files, and share resources.
To join the Foster Care Exchange contact cendres@serve.org or FosterCare@ed.gov. To sign in, visit the Foster Care Exchange.
Federal Resources

Non-Regulatory Guidance: Ensuring Educational Stability for Children in Foster Care
Joint non-regulatory guidance provides background information, FAQs, examples from the field, and a sample point of contact notification letter. (June 23, 2016)

Dear Colleague Letter on Implementation of Educational Stability Requirements
This letter responds to changes made to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and describes collaboration requirements for state and local educational agencies and child welfare agencies. (December 5, 2016)

Dear Colleague Letter on Foster Care Guidance and Timelines
A joint letter from ED and HHS shares the provisions in Title I of the ESEA that promote educational stability for children in foster care. (June 23, 2016)
Getting Oriented to Supporting Students in Foster Care
Foster care is defined as 24-hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents or guardians and for whom the title IV-E agency has placement and care responsibility. While in foster care, children may be placed in a variety of environments, including:
- Foster family homes
- Foster homes of relatives
- Group homes
- Emergency shelters
- Residential facilities
- Child-care institutions
- Pre-adoptive homes
*Adapted from the Non-Regulatory Guidance: Ensuring Educational Stability for Children in Foster Care from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Guidance on the Foster Care Provisions in Title I, Part A of ESSA. Foster Care, 45 C.F.R. § 1355.20
The resources curated throughout this collection offer state and local points of contacts with guidance as well as other resources to ensure that students placed in foster care can access and experience success in school.
External Resources
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An Overview of the ED/HHS Joint Guidance
Includes lessons learned from the Center on Children and the Law, Juvenile Law Center, and Education Law Center. (July 27, 2016)
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Education and Child Welfare Points of Contact
Includes early implementation lessons from Colorado and Pennsylvania. (August 17, 2016)
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Best Interest Determinations and Immediate Enrollment
Includes lessons learned by Vermont, Virginia, and the Legal Aid Justice Center. (August 24, 2016)
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Transportation Procedures
Includes early implementation lessons learned from the District of Columbia and California. (August 31, 2016)
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Effective Collaboration
Includes lessons learned from Texas and the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education. (September 7, 2016)
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FACT SHEET American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ARP ESSER) EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (ARP ESSER)
This document outlines the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2, enacted on March 11, 2021. The ARP ESSER Fund includes three State-level reservations for activities and interventions that respond to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups, including each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care.
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Supporting Students in Foster Care with ESSER and ARP Funds | Ohio Department of Education
The Ohio Department of Education provides information that can serve as a guide for districts, community schools and stakeholders as they make local decisions regarding how to direct ARP ESSER funds to programs and initiatives to student, family and community supports to address the whole child needs of students in foster care.
Foster Care Blog Series
A four part blog series
CCNetwork Resources

Promoting Better Connections with Children in Foster Care: Three Systemic Strategies
By Tanya Collins and Nanmathi Manian

Six Key Ways School-Based Mental Health Professionals Can Support Students in Foster Care
By Tanya Collins and Nanmathi Manian

How to Help Our Children in Foster Care Create, Navigate, and Maintain Relationships
By Tanya Collins and Nanmathi Manian
Every student has unique learning needs, experiences, and reactions to these experiences. Balancing these individual needs can be challenging. Being aware of our students’ history and sensitive to any trauma they may have experienced can be a first step in the right direction to influencing a student’s ability to be successful in school.

The Power of Being Understood for Children and Youth in Foster Care
By Tanya Collins and Nanmathi Manian
I didn’t want to sit alone at lunch, so I would go to the library or lie down in the nurse’s office. It’s hard having to adjust and be uncomfortable at school and then going back to a home where I was uncomfortable too. - A quote from a student in the foster care system
Collaborating with Child Welfare, Schools, And Parents
Under construction
Implementing The Educational Stability
Children and youth in foster care are more likely to have been exposed to trauma, experienced
abuse or neglect, changed schools, and moved from one home to another while having less
access to timely interventions than their non-child-welfare peers. As a result of these life
experiences and challenges to the systems, students in foster care are more likely to have
difficulty in school than other children and youth. For example, children and youth in foster care
are:
- More likely to move during the school year
- More likely to repeat a grade
- More likely experience educational difficulties (suspension/expulsion, segregation from
- peers, relational issues, etc.)
- More likely to be identified in need of special education services
- More likely to drop out of high school
- Less likely to attain a four-year, post-secondary degree
Did You Know?
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires states to gather data on the academic achievement and graduation rates of students placed in foster care. States submit this information to EDFacts, a U.S. Department of Education initiative, to collect, analyze, and promote the use of high-quality data. Learn more about EDFacts and the data it collects.
The ESEA also requires states to provide information about students in foster care as a part of their state report cards. As a result, information about academic achievement, graduation rates, and other state-adopted academic indicators can be found on state educational websites in easily understandable formats.
External Resources
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Office of Elementary & Secondary Education Students in Foster Care Program Description
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Legal Center for Foster Care and Education National Datasheet 2022
- Exploring Education Outcomes: What Research Tells Us: a comprehensive review and summary of current research findings, with detailed endnotes and full list of references used to compile the summary.
- Fast Facts: Data At A Glance: a quick national summary of student outcome data, including some key AFCARs data that can impact on educational outcomes.
- Fast Facts: Data At A Glance, State Data Template: a quick national summary of student outcome data that allows a state to input their own data or identify places where further study or information gathering is needed on the state level.
- Key Federal Laws: Supporting Students in Foster Care: a summary of federal laws supporting improved education outcomes for students in foster care.
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Support for Students in Foster Care
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Uninterrupted Scholars Act Guidance
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Educator’s Guide To Supporting Students In Foster Care
Engaging in Data-Informed Decisionmaking
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires states to gather data on the academic achievement and graduation rates of students placed in foster care. States submit this information to EDFacts, a U.S. Department of Education initiative to collect, analyze, and promote the use of high-quality data. Learn more about EDFacts and the data it collects.
The ESEA also requires states to provide information about students in foster care as a part of their state report cards. As a result, information about academic achievement, graduation rates, and other state-adopted academic indicators can be found on state educational websites in easily understandable formats.
External Resources
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DQC-Foster-Care-Roadmap
Legal Center for Foster Care and Education Exploring Education Outcomes: What Research Tells Us
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ED Data Expess
This site provides public access to the funding, participation, and performance data from school years starting from 2010-2011 onward on formula grant programs administered in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Most of the data are collected by school year and
updated annually as the data become available -
Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics
This post provides the latest statistics on child welfare in the United States, focusing on foster care statistics, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Center, a robust source of the best available data on child well-being in the nation.
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Data & Information Sharing - Legal Center for Foster Care & Education
The site provides a summary of child welfare law and policy, education law and policy, and important data resources related to data information and sharing
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Solving the Data Puzzle: A how To Guide on Collection and Sharing information to Improve Educational Outcomes for Children in Out-of-Home Care
This How-To Guide is divided into two sections: a Manual and Tools. The Manual provides details on relevant legal and policy considerations, as well as examples from around the country engaging in this important work. The Tools provide checklists to guide education and child welfare agencies in collaboration.
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Mythbusting: Breaking Down Confidentiality and Decision-Making Barriers to Meet the Education Needs of Children in Foster Care
Mythbusting is an online, searchable publication that addresses the issues surrounding confidentiality and other barriers that arise when advocating for the educational rights of young people in care
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Success Gaps Toolkit: Addressing Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity
A success gap is a difference in one or more outcome measures between groups of children in a district or school. An identified success gap indicates that the educational program a district or school offers is not meeting the needs of all groups of children. The Success Gaps Toolkit: Addressing Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity, includes materials and resources for facilitating a team to address success gaps in a district or school by identifying root causes and developing a subsequent improvement plan for reducing success gaps
Creating A Safe School Environment
There is national recognition that children and youth in foster care face a disproportionate risk of receiving disciplinary actions—including more frequent suspensions and expulsions—than their non-foster care peers. These disciplinary actions can often have far more significant consequences than intended that adversely affect their academic achievement, such as increased engagement with the juvenile or criminal justice system and greater risk of high school dropout.
Creating a safe and welcoming environment can be an essential part of creating a positive school climate that can serve as a protective factor for students experiencing adversity. A positive school climate has been shown to decrease rates of disruptive behaviors, truancy, fights, and suspensions at school (Hopson & Lee, 2011) and may make it easier to develop healthy relationships, which can help close the achievement gaps between students in foster care and their peers (Clemens et al., 2017).
The resources below offer educators tools and strategies for creating a positive school climate.
External Resources
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2022 OSEP Discipline-Behavior Guidance
On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released New Guidance Helps Schools Support Students with Disabilities and Avoid Discriminatory Use of Discipline | U.S. Department of Education.
This page contains resources to support all stakeholders, including teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, administrators, local educational agencies (LEAs), State educational agencies (SEAs), and families implement this guidance.
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Building a Culture of Staff Wellness Through Multi-Tiered System of Supports
This brief aims to provide recommendations to district and school leadership teams on how the components of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be used to prioritize staff health and wellbeing.
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Center on PBIS | Resource: Integrating a Trauma-Informed Approach within a PBIS Framework
This Guide describes how to integrate trauma-informed approaches into the PBIS framework to ensure efforts are linked to student outcomes. Strategies and tools to ensure effectiveness are included.
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Center on PBIS | Resource: Using PBIS to Address the Needs of Students with Internalizing Problem Behavior
Schools are increasingly aware of the need to better support students with internalizing challenges such as depression, anxiety, and trauma-related concerns. This session will discuss issues involved in improving school-wide PBIS systems for these students, including guidance on improving multi-tiered practices to ensure prevention and intervention for students with internalizing problems.
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School Discipline & Youth in Foster Care: New Federal Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and Justice Can Help
Providing Special Education Services When Needed
Students in foster care can sometimes have behavioral issues or special learning needs that may make their success in school more challenging. Due to frequent moves and life instability, many children and youth in foster care, who might benefit from special education supports, slip through the cracks and never receive the assessments and services they need.
Stronger collaboration between the education and child welfare systems can help ensure children and youth in foster care have greater school continuity, appropriate special education assessments and assignments, educational achievement, and academic success.
Did You Know?
The frequent school changes experienced by students in foster care can hinder their academic achievement. National data indicate, on average, foster youth undergo three placement changes while in out-of-home care, losing 4–6 months of academic progress with each move.
External Resources
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Legal Center for Foster Care and Education
Who holds special education decisionmaking rights for children in foster care? The Legal Center has developed materials to help you understand this complex, state-specific issue.
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Special Education Decisions for Children in Foster Care: Everyone Has a Role
- Identifying Special Education Decision Makers for Children in Foster Care: State Law Questions
Special Education Decisionmaking Factsheets -
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Exceptional Student Services Arizona Technical Assistance System (AZ-TAS)
This document was developed by the Arizona Technical Assistance System (AZ-TAS) to provide school personnel, agencies, and parents with information, clarification, and guidance relating to students in foster care receiving special education. This document is meant to be technical assistance and should not be construed as legal guidance. Legal citations are included for reference points.
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IEPs: Developing High-quality Individualized Education Programs
This module developed by the IRIS Center details the process of developing high-quality individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities. The module discusses the requirements for IEPs as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with implications of the Supreme Court's ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District.
Transitioning To Independence (Aging Out)
Approximately 20,000+ children age out or are emancipated from foster care annually. The definition of emancipation varies state by state based on whether or not they offer extended foster care and through what age. Generally, emancipation means these youth reached a state’s legal age of adulthood, usually 18, without having been reunited with their biological families or placed in new permanent families. Extended foster care is offered in many states with most jurisdictions capping benefits at age 21.
Youth who age out of foster care are more likely to engage in risky behaviors and are more likely to experience hardships. It is critical to help youth transitioning out of foster care to achieve self-sufficiency.
Did You Know?
CalYOUTH study surveyed 622 youths who had aged out of foster care for at least two years.
- 48.6% reported experiencing at least one economic hardship
- 31.1% reported not having enough money to buy clothes
- 26.9% reported having their cell phone or internet services disconnected
- 26.2% reported not having enough money to pay rent
Source: Courtney, M. E., Okpych, N. J., & Park, S. (2021). Report from CalYOUTH: Findings on the relationship between extended foster care and youth’s outcomes at age 23. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
External Resources
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U.S. Department of Education, "Foster Care Transition Toolkit."
This toolkit helps youth access the resources needed to successfully transition into adulthood, continue on to postsecondary education, and establish meaningful careers.
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Educational and Training Vouchers for Young people Currently and Formerly in Foster Care
The John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood helps young people currently and formerly in foster care through the Educational and Training Vouchers (ETV) Program. The program provides eligible youth and young adults with grants to help pay for college, career school, or trainings.
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Chafee Strengthening Outcomes for Transition to Adulthood
This project, also from the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program, conducts research to examine promising independent living programs, aims to add “what works” to the field, and examines persistent challenges to youth development.
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Casey Family Programs, "Achieving Higher Education Goals"
This is a collection of resources to help youth and young adults in and from foster care achieve their higher education goals. The list includes scholarship, financial aid, and general information.