When Kristie* arrived at the home of Kathy Bilbo in Chicago, Illinois just before her eighth birthday, she had already lived in 12 foster homes, two psychiatric hospitals and two group homes. She had been abused as a child, and was physically aggressive, landing Bilbo in the emergency room twice. At Waters Elementary School, she was placed in special education classes, where she frequently got in trouble for beating up other kids.

"Her problems were emotional," Bilbo says. "She couldn't learn because she didn't feel safe or secure? When she made mistakes, the kids laughed and she wanted to beat them up."

"When I was moving from house to house, nobody was telling me what was going on," Kristie says. "My behavior was out of frustration. I didn't know why I was taken away from my family."

By sixth grade, Kristie was still only working at a first grade level. She was passing, but neither she nor Bilbo felt that was good enough. "I was in this program for slow learners," Kristie says. "Usually when you're in that program, they pass you. I didn't like that because I wanted to learn and earn my way up."

Bilbo identified two things that could help Kristie catch up in the privacy of her home and learn at her own pace: a computer with remedial reading materials and private tutoring. Bilbo couldn't afford these things herself, so she asked for help.

The Board of Education wouldn't pay for Kristie's supplies or tutoring because they weren't part of her Individual Education Plan at school. The Department of Children and Family Services wouldn't foot the bill, either.

But Bilbo persisted, and got help through a local area network services (LANS) program, in which all community agencies come together and provide services for families in need. They provided a computer with elementary curriculum and paid for private tutoring, which paid off immediately. Kristie went up two grade levels in four months. Today Kristie is a junior in high school with a B average who is beginning to look at colleges.

"It built up my confidence," Kristie says. "So not only did you learn something, but they teach you how to ask questions and not to be afraid, but be confident."

"She developed mentor-type relationships with her tutors," Bilbo says, "and that's when she started blossoming."

The Price Kids Pay
Years later, when Kristie's academics improved so much she won the Hispanic Foster Child of the Year award, she didn't want the plaque identifying her as a foster child to hang in her school. "I would have to get into my life story," Kristie says, "and I'm not so proud of what happened, what was done to me. That's my business. I don't want people to look at me any differently."

When asked whether Kristie's teachers knew that she was a foster child, Bilbo says she's not sure. "You'd be surprised how many teachers don't know," Bilbo says. "They don't have the records—they stay in the office with the counselors. All they would know is that a kid is acting out. They need to understand where the problems are coming from."

Research shows that children in care pay a high educational price. Foster youth score, on average, 15 to 20 percentile points below non-foster youth in statewide achievement tests. Only 59 percent of foster youth enrolled in 11th grade complete high school by the end of grade 12. The completion rate for non-foster youth is 86 percent. And according to a 1997 study, children in foster care drop out of school at twice the rate of other children.

The majority of children and young people entering foster care are moved into an unfamiliar home and an unfamiliar school—often several times in one year. This requires weeks, or even months, of adjustment. And, because of the lack of standardized curriculums and tracking systems, a child moved from one foster home to another can find herself academically months behind others in the class.

Parental involvement in education can be particularly challenging for foster parents, because children's problems are compounded by their transient lives. Children in foster care are more likely than other children to have academic and behavioral trouble in school. They have higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness and are more likely than other children to repeat a grade, to have disabilities that affect their ability to learn, and to be in special education.

Foster Parents as Advocates
Data shows that each time a child changes schools, an amount of educational progress is lost. "That's why we think stability is the first key point of advocacy," says Dennis Ichikawa, who oversees a collaboration of Casey Family Programs and Team Child, a non-profit Seattle law firm. The collaboration is increasing the number of trained educational advocates for Washington children in foster care.

Ichikawa says that it's important for foster parents to learn how to be effective advocates themselves. They need a baseline of knowledge about children's needs, and an understanding of the principal federal laws that provide educational opportunities for children with special needs, like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Because many foster children will have Individual Education Plans (IEPs), foster parents should understand how the process works in their school district. They also need to learn about state laws that establish their rights as surrogate parents. For example, in some states, foster parents have the right to request records and evaluations. In others, an educational surrogate is the one who has these powers.

Duane St. Clair, president of the Maryland League of Foster and Adoptive Parents, says that the temporary nature of foster parenting poses particular challenges. "You may have a child for a short period of time, you're dealing with a lot of crises. It's easy to have a child fall behind academically. Whether he does his homework or not may be far down on your priority list."

One foster son has been with his family for almost five years, but due to severe behavioral problems, only in the last year or so have they addressed his educational needs. "We're always trying to play catch-up," St. Clair says.

"For us it was a learning experience. We'd raised three biological daughters but didn't know about schools in terms of kids with special needs," St. Clair says. ?The more times you've had kids in this situation, the more experienced you become."

Setting an Example
Foster parent Karyl Brandon of Ceadarville, Ohio makes a point of contacting the local elementary school every time a new child comes to live with her. She makes sure that the school retrieves past records, administers the proper tests and takes into account the past experiences of the children before placing them in class.

"I have an excellent working arrangement with teachers and people in special ed," Brandon says. "I think I'm lucky."

Brandon, who has been a foster parent for over 20 years, currently has two foster daughters, ages 7 and 11. Her elder child had behavioral problems and a history of being sent home by school officials. "That was their way of dealing with behavior problems," she says. "Nobody ever went to school and said, ?You can't keep sending this kid home. How is she ever going to learn?'"

Mary Jane Karns, curriculum and special education supervisor at Ceadarville Elementary, appreciates Brandon's efforts to be in close contact with the school. "Last year was my first year," Karns says, "and I hadn't worked at the school more than a few days when Brandon came in to introduce a new child."

"The more foster parents that are involved on a day-to-day basis, the better," Karns says. "It's keeping the lines of communication open, so everybody knows where everybody else is."

Thanks to Brandon's partnership with the school, both the girls have had very few behavioral problems. Still, they struggle with the same issues as most foster children. "The sad thing is, I think they both could get excellent grades," Brandon says, "but when you add in all emotional and behavioral issues and the ADHD? they're doing okay."

Help for Foster Parents and Kids
Foster parents may know that a child in their care is struggling when it comes to academic achievement, but they may not know how to identify the problem or how to fix it.

"That's where we come in and help," says Sharon Freagon, director of the Center for Child Welfare and Education at Northern Illinois University. The center, funded by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, provides individual interventions for foster and adoptive families. They have 11 educational advisors across Illinois who train liaisons to be the "first line of educational supports" for foster parents. They handle over 3,000 cases a year.

Pat Cooper of Illinois has had over 300 foster children and adopted nine. She took in one foster child who struggled with major depression and medical problems; and who was about to graduate from grammar school with F's at the age of 13. "Somebody should have raised a red flag at that," Cooper says.

Frustrated with her school district, she contacted DCFS, who sent Freagon to help. Freagon brought together the principals of the grammar school and high school, special education teachers and attorneys. Together they came to an agreement to provide necessary services for the child.

Teachers need to understand how disruption in a child's life—multiple placements, medical and behavioral problems—get in the way of learning. "All those things make foster parents work very hard," Cooper says.

"She [Freagon] gave me the direction I needed to get things done for my kids," Cooper says. "Sometimes you just need some power behind you."

Resources

Team Child [1] is working to improve the educational outcomes of Washington State's children in foster care by increasing the number of trained educational advocates for these children.