Foster care: Stable schools good for children

Children experience a significant amount of trauma when they are removed from their parents and placed into foster care. They can also experience subsequent trauma when they have multiple foster care placements.

The federal Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into law on Dec. 10, 2015, and requires child welfare and education agencies to work together to keep children in their school of origin when they come into foster care or move foster care placements. This is extremely important since many times school is the only constant place for these children.

The new law also requires that each school district hire an educational liaison to be the point of contact for child welfare workers who are trying to make arrangements for children in foster care to remain in their school.

As a social worker, I have seen the effects of children moving to and from foster care placements and know how beneficial it can be for them to remain in the same school. I am hopeful this law will create better working relationships between school districts and child welfare agencies and lead to better outcomes for our children.

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Foster care: Stable schools good for children."