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

From Practice into Law:
Policy Recommendations to
Support the Educational Success
of Youth in Out-of-Home Care
This report has highlighted the excellent work of many education and
child welfare agencies in supporting the educational success of youth in
out-of-home care. However, many other agencies have not focused on
the educational achievement of youth in care or are struggling to provide
appropriate services. Even those who have been successful would reach more
youth with more services if public policy supported their efforts more fully.
As this publication goes to press, the President has just signed into law
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.
This Act will strongly support the policy and practice recommendations in
this report. The Fostering Connections Act incorporated the fundamental
principles of school stability into federal child welfare law: 1) children
should remain in their school of origin when it is in their best interest to
do so, and 2) children should be immediately enrolled in school if a move
becomes necessary. Also, the Act permits the use of foster care maintenance
dollars to support transportation to the school of origin. With these new
school stability requirements in child welfare law and the expansion of
federal dollars that can be used to support school-of-origin transportation,
state and local child welfare agencies now have new tools and supports to
use in their collaborations with their education partners that can bolster the
implementation of the McKinney Vento Act for youth in out-of-home care.
In addition to the positive changes made by the Fostering Connections Act,
the following policy recommendations would further ensure that all states,
child welfare agencies, and school districts receive the incentives and resources
they need to support the educational success of youth in out-of-home care.
As with the strategies outlined above, obtaining the policy changes necessary
to meet the needs of youth in care will require collaborative advocacy by both
child welfare and education advocates.
Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes through School Stability 53