The McKinney-Vento Act and Children and Youth ... - State of Michigan

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STRATEGY Build informal relationships with colleagues in the complementary agency, supplemented by regular, ongoing meetings to discuss concerns and adjust policies and practices based on lessons learned. IMPLEMENTATION TIPS • Meet with counterparts in other agencies to explain the services you provide and discuss challenges. • Institutionalize your collaborations through regular meetings or a formal agreement to revisit policies and practices at determined intervals. • Inform counterparts in other agencies of relevant policy changes immediately. • Establish a formal collaboration group with regular meetings and shared goals. • Exchange actual contact lists with each other: names, phone numbers and emails. • Regularly update and renew contacts to maintain relationships and address staff turnover. Offer ongoing training opportunities to help each agency understand the policies, practices, and priorities of the other. • Provide McKinney-Vento Act training at new caseworker orientations, annual caseworker conferences, and resource fairs. • Include information about education and the McKinney-Vento Act in child welfare policy manuals. • Provide training on child welfare policies to McKinney-Vento staff, school counselors, teachers, and administrators. • Teach child welfare staff about the value of school stability, and education staff about the impact of abuse and neglect. • Invite alumni from foster care to share their perspectives with educators and child welfare administrators. Consider using a third party to facilitate communication between agencies. • Hold local interagency roundtable discussions about implementation challenges and strategies, facilitated by state agencies. 20 The McKinney-Vento Act and Children and Youth Awaiting Foster Care Placement
• Create an interagency task force under the auspices of the local juvenile court, state legislature, or other agency. • Invite an outside organization like the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth to provide training and facilitate collaboration. Design and implement interagency agreements. • Formalize joint priorities, policies, and practices, on both the state and local level. • Clearly define the contours of “awaiting foster care placement” and establish the basic legal framework and policies each agency must follow. • Include a glossary in agreements. • Address practical implementation strategies, such as assigning responsibility for identifying eligible youth in care, enrolling them in the school that is in their best interest, and providing and arranging both immediate and long-term transportation. Every professional interviewed for this publication emphasized the importance of relationships in meeting the educational needs of youth in outof-home care. An important first step for any effective collaboration is for the collaborators to get to know each other. Successful collaborations depend on good relationships based on mutual trust. One way to build trust is through earnest efforts to learn about the strengths and challenges of colleagues and to share information about one’s own. Getting to know one another can be as simple as introducing oneself and starting a conversation. The following strategies can help lead to mutual understanding. Build informal relationships with colleagues in the complementary agency, supplemented by regular, ongoing meetings to discuss concerns and adjust policies and practices based on lessons learned. DEVELOPING INTERAGENCY RELATIONSHIPS • Make an initial contact by phone or email. Child welfare caseworkers and supervisors should contact the school district’s central office or McKinney- Vento state coordinator to find the contact information for the local Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes through School Stability 21
Page 1 and 2: BUILDING FUTURES THROUGH EDUCATION
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Executive Summary
Page 5 and 6: Executive Summary “ Education was
Page 7 and 8: meeting the child’s unique needs,
Page 9 and 10: Treat youth in out-ofhome care with
Page 11 and 12: Educational Challenges of Homelessn
Page 13 and 14: This residential instability too of
Page 15 and 16: • As many as three-quarters of ol
Page 17 and 18: Overview of the McKinney-Vento Act
Page 19 and 20: (iii) children and youths who are l
Page 21 and 22: From Law into Practice: Strategies
Page 23: Public Schools, it took three years
Page 27 and 28: ENSURING REGULAR INTERAGENCY CONTAC
Page 29 and 30: and roundtable discussions with sch
Page 31 and 32: stakeholders to the table, such as
Page 33 and 34: Massachusetts • “Temporary, tra
Page 35 and 36: To summarize from narrower to broad
Page 37 and 38: for the duration of the school year
Page 39 and 40: they will be better able to manage
Page 41 and 42: 4. Ensure that education and child
Page 43 and 44: Whether they function as employees
Page 45 and 46: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENROLLING TH
Page 47 and 48: WHO ARRANGES TRANSPORTATION? The lo
Page 49 and 50: • Immediate access to free school
Page 51 and 52: The program manager is now working
Page 53 and 54: circumstances will exchanged inform
Page 55 and 56: “ I had an amazing caseworker fro
Page 57 and 58: From Practice into Law: Policy Reco
Page 59 and 60: 2. Amend federal and state child we
Page 61 and 62: 6. Implement procedures for schools
Page 63 and 64: Conclusion As the efforts of jurisd
Page 65 and 66: References Advocates for Children o
Page 67 and 68: Robertson, M., & Toro, P. (1999). H
Page 69 and 70: APPENDIX List of Interviewees Autho
Page 71 and 72: Endnotes 1 Personal communication,
Page 73 and 74: 26 Burley, M., & Halpern, M. (2001)
Page 76:
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