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

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and understanding of the McKinney-Vento Act within child welfare agencies. Establishing education specialists and adequately training caseworkers on the McKinney-Vento Act would help relieve some of this burden. Many homeless liaisons have increased their capacity to ensure immediate enrollment for students experiencing homelessness by designating a homeless contact in every school building. The contact may be a school counselor, nurse, secretary, or other staff person. The homeless liaison trains the contact on the McKinney-Vento Act, possible indicators of homelessness, and the services and protections the school district can provide. The contact then serves as the liaison’s “eyes and ears” in that school building, helping to identify McKinney-Vento students and ensure that they are served appropriately. An additional strategy to support the work of homeless liaisons is to provide them with administrative assistants or other support staff who can coordinate transportation, help disburse school supplies, and work directly with schools. Both child welfare and education agency staff must work in tandem with the adult decision-makers in youth’s lives. Someone must decide what school the youth will attend, enroll the youth, and make decisions about the student’s educational program. For youth in out-of-home care, it is often unclear which adult is empowered to fill that role. The following section addresses this complex issue. 5. Clarify education-related roles and responsibilities “ The organizational structure is difficult for us, because sometimes we don’t know who’s responsible for what.” — Elizabeth Hinz 48 Biological parents, foster parents, kinship care providers, attorneys, judges, caseworkers, supervisors, group home staff, education advocates, teachers, school counselors, homeless liaisons, and many other adults and agencies may touch the life of a youth who is awaiting foster care placement. Each plays a role in the youth’s education. If their respective roles and responsibilities are not clarified, disputes may arise regarding educational decisions. Worse, an important decision or action may be delayed while the various parties try to decide whose job it is. To avoid such consequences, education-related responsibilities must be clearly addressed and assigned, including the following: 40 The McKinney-Vento Act and Children and Youth Awaiting Foster Care Placement
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENROLLING THE YOUTH IN SCHOOL? Interviews for this report indicated that when the adults in a student’s life do not know who is supposed to enroll the child in school, at least two negative consequences can result: • No one enrolls the child, and the child misses school. • Someone without authority enrolls the child in an inappropriate school. Child welfare agencies should assign responsibility for school enrollment clearly and ensure that schools know where that responsibility lies. WHO DECIDES BETWEEN THE SCHOOL OF ORIGIN AND THE LOCAL SCHOOL? Children and youth awaiting foster care placement have the right to remain in their school of origin or enroll in the local school, depending upon their best interests. The McKinney-Vento Act gives parents and youth the right to participate in that best-interest decision and appeal decisions with which they do not agree. However, in the case of youth in out-of-home care, it may be unclear who is considered the “parent” for such purposes. This must be clarified to help avoid confusion, disputes, and poor education decisions. Education and child welfare agencies, as well as individual schools and caseworkers, must be informed of who is empowered to make such decisions. Models for choosing between the local school and the school of origin that are in use in the jurisdictions interviewed include the following: JURISDICTION MODEL FOR MORE INFORMATION The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Homeless Education Advisory 2004−9 states that children and youth in state care or custody “...may be enrolled by the social worker or the parent/guardian.” Delaware’s Draft MOU establishes that the “Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families shall...enroll a child who is in foster care in school immediately (24-48 hours), once DSCYF staff has faxed registration materials (including IEP, if applicable). The child may be brought to the school by the foster parent to complete additional paperwork needed by the school (e.g., emergency card).” Arizona Caseworker leads the bestinterest determination with the homeless liaison, including input from the out-of-home caregiver, the school district, and the parent. Children’s Services Manual of the Arizona Division of Children, Youth and Families (see, Legal Center for Foster Care & Education, www. abanet.org/child/ education) Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes through School Stability 41
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 and 24: Public Schools, it took three years
Page 25 and 26: • Create an interagency task forc
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: Whether they function as employees
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: For additional information, please

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