Contact Information for Education-Related
Questions Regarding Foster and Probation Youth
This document identifies individuals
you may contact if you have education-related questions about a
foster or probation youth, or if you need to get transcripts for
youth leaving any juvenile hall or camp.
Download PDF file here: 
Los
Angeles 490 Foster Youth Enrollment Letter
The LA 490 Foster Youth Enrollment Letter
is a helpful tool for caregivers trying to enroll their
foster youth in the public school system, this letter outlines
the applicable law and what rules school administrators
need to follow when enrolling these youth.
Select your district from the menu above or click here
to see all the available letters: 
High School Credit Recovery Guidelines
The High School Credit Recovery Guidelines
is a helpful tool created to help parents, caregivers,
social workers, advocates and other adults who work with
foster youth uncover high school credits completed by the
youth while they were attending other schools/school districts.
Although the process for recovering credits will vary with
each school district, these guidelines outline key steps
that will help to facilitate this process and increase
the likelihood of successfully recovering credits.
The
California Blue Ribbon Commission Final Report
This is the final report of the California
Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care. The report is
titled: Fostering a New Future for California’s
Children:
Final Report and Action Plan, May 2009: Ensuring Every Child a
Safe, Secure, and Permanent Home.
CA
Education Law Fact Sheets 2010
These are the latest facts sheets developed
by the CA Foster Youth Education Task Force. Here, you will find
the latest legal information about: AB 490, Education Rights,
Special Education, Nonpublic Schools (NPS), AB 3632, Functional
Behavioral Assessments (FBA), Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIP),
School Discipline, and Special Education Discipline.
County of
Los Angeles Probation Department Education Reform Project
The report concerning the approval of comprehensive educational
reform recommendations and a preliminary action plan for implementation
at probation camps and juvenile halls.
Download PDF file here: 
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H.R.
6893 Fact Sheet
H.R. 6893, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008, was one of several recent bills
signed by the President. This will open the door to federal support
for youth to age 21-- ending the trend in many states to push youth
out of foster care at 18. Other provisions in the bill will enhance
the ability to find, approve and support relative caregivers, increase
efforts to preserve sibling ties, and mandate better attention
to the educational and health needs of youth in care.
Download a summary of the key provisions in the bill in PDF format: 
Keys
to Creating Standards-based IEPS
The Special EDge is a newsletter
published three times a year and funded by the California Department
of Education, Special Education Division. The Special EDge is
designed to inform and support parents, educators, and other service
providers on special education topics, focusing on research-based
practices, legislation, technical support, and current resources.
This issue contains useful information related to Individualized
Education Plans (IEPS).
Download this issue in PDF format: 
Minute Order Language Addition for
Youth under the Jurisdiction of the Department of Children and
Family Services (DCFS)
Los Angeles County is now adding language to dependency court
minute orders that will allow school districts to share educational
information with the Department of Children and Family Services,
in a manner that is compliant with FERPA. Bench officers will
insert this language into minute orders at disposition and subsequent
hearings, which will then be shared with school districts (redacted
to conceal sibling information and any other confidential information,
if necessary), and they will follow FERPA protocol (like giving
reasonable notice to parents/holders of educational rights, etc.)
in order to share the information with social workers. Social
workers will incorporate this information into their court reports
in order to share it with the Juvenile Court and all counsel
of record.
Download the new language in PDF format:
Stuart Foundation:
Teacher Voices
Some of the nation’s leading scholars
and philanthropic organizations selected a dozen foster care experts
to discuss what we know — and don’t know — about
improving educational outcomes for children and youth in foster
care. These experts represent a wide range of experience and perspective
including that of an urban county school superintendent, a juvenile
court judge, an attorney, a pediatric mental health clinician,
a social service director, and several university-based researchers.
Ready to Succeed is a bold plan to close the
educational achievement gap for children and youth in foster
care. Based upon the best research available, it designs and
tests interventions at demonstration sites, assists policymakers
and practitioners to carry out promising policies and practices,
and addresses data collection and sharing challenges. Likewise,
it is a call for more and better
research to strengthen the evidence for what works.
Grappling with the Gaps is a starting place. It sets the groundwork
to suggest new research priorities for improving policies and practices related
to the educational outcomes of children and youth in foster care. Its sole
source of information is interviews conducted during the winter of 2009 with
12 foster care experts who differ in familiarity with education, child welfare,
and related policy and practice issues. Collectively they describe “research
lags,” “holes,” “gaps in knowledge,” “a
paucity of research on educational outcomes,” and “lack of evidence-based
practices” contributing to the generally dismal educational outcomes Ready
to Succeed aims to turn around.
