Educational Advocacy Program
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Educators and policymakers often point out that parents are children’s first and most enduring teachers. Indeed, no bond is more fundamental and life-defining than the one between parent and child. Children in foster care or out-of-home care, however, have had that crucial bond broken, frayed, or interrupted through no fault of their own. Traumatized first by the maltreatment, neglect, or abuse that brings them to the attention of the CPS, then by their removal from their family, and possibly yet again by their experiences in the foster care system, these children are among our most vulnerable. For almost 5,000 children and youth who are involved in the dependency system in Sacramento County each year, a solid education is their best hope - in some cases, their only hope - of achieving independence and success in adulthood.
A quality education builds on a foundation of educational continuity and school stability.
Unfortunately, too many children in foster care experience multiple placement changes, and changes in home placement frequently result in a change in school placement. Every school change has a significant impact on a student’s education.

Whenever students enter a new school, they must adapt to different curricula, different expectations, new friends, and new teachers. A stable school environment provides children with opportunities to develop positive relationships with supportive and caring teachers, school counselors, and classmates.
These relationships, and an established school routine, often provide a measure of protection from the disruption
and uncertainty associated with out-of-home care. Hence, both school stability and uninterrupted attendance are necessary.

In 2005, SCA started its Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) under an Equal Justice Works fellowship grant.
Prior to SCA’s hosting of this project, Sacramento County did not have an educational advocacy program for youth in out of home care. The EOP remains the sole project dedicated to the direct representation of legal educational rights of this youth population in our county. The project’s primary focus was to achieve wide-scale implementation of AB-490, sometimes referred to as the foster care educational bill of rights - Under CA Law (AB490) youth in foster care have the rights to:

	Have a willing and available adult represent their best educational interests;
	Stay in your same school, even after they enter foster care, and even if they change placements;
	Get help from the Foster Care Education Liaison in their school district (every district must have one) to protect their education rights, help them to enroll, and help them get their credits;
	Be free from any discipline or punishment for missing school because of court-related activities, like hearings or other court-ordered meetings scheduled within school hours;
	Receive immediate enrollment in a new school, if that's in their best interest, even if they are missing some of your school and/or health records, or don't have a uniform yet;
	Have their school records transferred to your new school within 2 business days, if they do move schools - to make sure they get their credits and are enrolled in the right classes;
	Receive full or partial credit for their attendance and the school work they completed before moving schools.

However, the project was greatly expanded due to the demands of this population’s special education requirements as well as related due process violations that this population faces.
All California school districts must have a promotion/retention policy that provides for the identification of pupils who are at risk of being retained in their current grade level. Students so identified may be eligible for interventions, such as tutoring, summer school or other services “to assist the pupil to attain acceptable levels of academic achievement.” Parents must be provided notice when a pupil is identified as being at risk for retention and such notice must be provided as early in the school year as practicable. Educ. Code §§ 48070-48070.5.

Many foster youth are academically “at risk” and, thus, may be “at risk for retention.” It is important that these students have access to the opportunities for remedial instruction mandated by statute and that a parent or the person who retains educational decision-making rights for a foster youth receives proper notice concerning retention, especially since students identified as “at risk for retention” are often given priority enrollment status for summer school.

Select the links below for more information:

	Access to Quality Services to Meet Academic Needs
	Special Education
	English Learner (EL) or Limited English Proficient (LEP) students
	Migrant Students
	No Child Left Behind
	Supplemental Services
	School Choice

For more information about SCA please call 916-364-5686.