More than 1 in 4 WA foster kids lost touch with school during spring distance learning
Students in foster care in Washington state will need extra support to stay engaged with school during distance learning undertaken because of the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates say.
“More than a quarter of the youth we serve in foster care — 26 percent — have disengaged from school, and there are many other concerning trends,” Lisa Chin, CEO of the nonprofit Treehouse, said in a press release this month.
“Treehouse will monitor our youth to see if these needs persist, connect youth and young adults with additional services and partner with caregivers, social workers and schools to provide extra support during this time of disruption.”
Treehouse surveyed 1,126 youth last month about their needs during COVID-19. Of the 58 Tacoma youths represented, 47 percent had “disengaged from school during the pandemic.”
Treehouse found 44 percent of caregivers across the state “need more support in meeting the educational needs of youth in their homes,” and that 25 percent “of youth in care have lost academic progress as a result of the move to distance learning.”
“Treehouse is working with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to provide guidance and support to school districts,” the press release said. “Treehouse also is ramping up to make sure caregivers and social workers have everything they need to navigate distance learning in the new school year.”
It went on to say: “The organization has been a leading voice advocating with Governor Jay Inslee on how to spend discretionary funding through the CARES Act to ensure Washington meets all basic and educational needs of children and youth in foster care. Thanks to contributions from communities throughout the state, Treehouse has funded more than $800,000 in technology and other critical supports since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Rodney Robinson is Treehouse’s Associate Director of Education Programs who oversees their Tacoma operations. He said earlier this summer: “As we kind of go through these tumultuous times, our students are going to need continued support.”
Robinson said they’d been working with school districts to prepare for different scenarios of what school will look like this fall.
During the pandemic they’ve prioritized keeping in contact with students, such as by doing phone visits. “The phone has been a big need, just to try to keep some communication,” Robinson said.
Other challenges for foster kids
Ross Hunter, secretary of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, said in June: “What these kids are often struggling with is a place to do homework that’s not stressful, that doesn’t have 1,000 other things going on, and they need an adult in their life,” to push them, who they know cares about them, he said.
The education advocate program through Treehouse does that, he said. “I want to make sure we get as many kids as we can connected to a mentor,” Hunter said.
He went on to say: “Part of our job is to launch them into the world. … I desperately want all of these kids to succeed.”
Hunter noted there also was a sharp decrease in reports of abuse as many kids stopped seeing mandatory reporters such as teachers.
“That doesn’t mean that child abuse went down 50 percent,” he said. “It means that kids aren’t in school and so teachers aren’t calling us.”
Reuniting families remotely
He also noted that visits between children in foster care and parents trying to regain custody went virtual in response to the pandemic, and slowly started to resume in-person as counties moved into Phase 2 of the state’s Safe Start Plan.
Hunter said parents who managed to take the steps asked of them to regain custody of their children have then had to navigate court systems with limited operations during the pandemic.
“We’re learning a lot about how counseling and other kinds of services to help preserve families are going to work in a world of video,” he said. “Some will probably work OK, and some won’t work at all.”
Dorothy Gorder, 37, is a coordinator for the Pierce County Parents for Parents program, which connects parents who have gone through the child welfare system with those who are new to it.
“I support parents who are newly involved with the child welfare system,” she said.
As various services have gone virtual, she noted in some cases attendance has actually increased. Some people who had trouble with transportation or other challenges attending in-person are now making it virtually, though she noted not everyone has the technology to do so.
“The parents that I support that are actively engaged in their treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, everything has gone virtual,” she said. “They’re all doing Zoom.”
Alishia Agee-Cooper, a 35-year-old social worker who lives in Tacoma, spoke regarding her work with an advocacy group called the Birth Parent National Network.
She noted issues with access to services, access to visits, and a need for relationships between parents and foster parents existed before the pandemic, but that COVID-19 has made it more challenging.
“Visits seem to be the biggest concern for everyone,” she said. “How do you bond with an infant over video?”
Agee-Cooper previously went through the dependency process with her son.
She said she “successfully managed the things that I needed to at that time to get my son back in my care,” and this year she celebrated 10 years free from drugs and alcohol. Her son is 10 now.
“I can’t imagine if while my child was in care this occurred,” she said about the pandemic. “I can’t imagine it.”
A need for community
When it comes to education, she said the pandemic exacerbates socioeconomic disparities and disproportionately affects communities of color.
And on a community level, she talked about the importance of checking biases, questioning how neighbors can help one another, and making sure people feel they can ask for help when they need it.
“If I know my community and know my neighbors, I know what would be irregular for them,” she said. “... I have neighbors that have kids. What do they need during this time? I’ll grab extra lunches.”
We don’t know those things if we don’t talk to our neighbors, she said.
