Caregivers, School Liaisons, And Agency Advocates Speak out About the Educational Needs of Children and Youths in Foster Care (Report‪)‬

There are half a million children in our nation who live away from their families and communities because of abuse or neglect at home. A third of the children who enter foster care are younger than age five (Needell et al., 2007). Many of these children experience further trauma when moving from foster home to foster home and from school to school. Although approximately 40 percent of children entering foster care for the first time reunify with their parents in fewer than 12 months, many are trapped in the system and remain in foster care until they "age out" at 18 (Needell et al., 2007). With no place to go, one in four of the youths who age out is incarcerated within two years of leaving foster care, one in five becomes homeless at some time after age 18, only 46 percent complete high school, a mere 3 percent earn a college degree, and just 51 percent have a job at age 21 (Casey Family Programs, 2003). The academic records of these children reveal students who experience significant difficulties in school (Casey Family Programs, 2003; Courtney & Dworksy, 2005; Courtney, Terao, & Bost, 2004; Smithgall, Gladden, Howard, Goerge, & Courtney, 2004). Foster youths are more likely than their peers to struggle academically, socially, and behaviorally in the school setting (Altshuler, 2003). When compared with the school population as a whole, they have higher rates of absenteeism and disciplinary referrals (Smithgall et al., 2004; Zima et al., 2000); three-fourths perform below grade level (Smithgall et al., 2004); more than half have been retained at least one year in school (Berrick, Courtney, & Barth, 1993); they perform significantly lower on standardized achievement tests in reading and mathematics and earn lower grades in these subjects (Emerson & Lovitt, 2003); and they exhibit more internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, including higher rates of depression, poor social skills, lower adaptive functioning, and more aggression and impulsivity (Harden, 2004).