The Juvenile Law Center and the Education Law Center are co-hosting a “tweet chat” about supporting educational success for youth in foster care. The chat spins off a recent issue of the Philadelphia Public School Notebook that focused entirely on foster youth issues.
The chat will run from 3-4 p.m. eastern time on Monday, December 18. Anyone interested can use the hashtags #FosterEdSuccess or #PHLed to follow the conversation at that time.
Among the critical education issues for current and former foster youth:
- Continuity: Recent federal legislation has required both child welfare and education agencies to work together to ensure that foster youth can remain at their school of origin if they choose.
- Updated Records: For foster youth who do change schools the timely transfer of education and personal records necessary to prevent lags in enrollment and appropriate placement into grades and levels.
- College affordability: Efforts to help youth in foster care apply for, pay for and also live on college campuses.
- Graduation: Supporting current and former foster youth while they are on campus to prevent avoidable academic problems that lead to dropping out.
The chat is part of a year-long project, funded by the Samuel Fels Fund, to help make sure as many folks as possible engage in a conversation about issues facing youth in foster care accessing education.