Students in Foster Care
Per the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, State educational agencies (SEA) hold specific responsibilities aimed at supporting the educational rights and opportunities of students in Foster Care; this also falls within requirements established under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
Foster Care student rights include:
- access to immediate enrollment in schools regardless of access to records or additional requirements;
- free transportation to and from school;
- access to free meals services, and
- support engaging in academically and socially enriching activities offered by their school district.
Within this context,
Foster Care is defined as:
substitute care for children placed by the Department of Human Services or a tribal child welfare agency away from their parents and for whom the department or agency has placement and care responsibility,
- including placements in foster family homes,
- foster homes of relatives,
- group homes,
- emergency shelters,
- residential facilities,
- child care institutions and
- pre-adoptive homes.
State Foster Care Liaisons / Points of Contact
The Every Student Succeeds (ESSA) Act requires that all school districts identify a Point of Contact assigned to work with staff and provide assistance for students experiencing houselessness.
Each school district must also have a designated liaison tasked with overseeing the coordination and application of these supports. This is done through collaboration with caseworkers and other human services representatives, training staff within their district on the unique needs of students in Foster Care, and engaging with community organizations and agencies to ensure that students and families are receiving adequate services under ESSA/ESEA.
- District contact information is due at the beginning of each school year (see
Updating District Contact Information below for further details).
Roles / Responsibilities
Foster Care Point of Contact / Liaison
Each district Foster Care POCs / Liaisons must:
- Collaborate with caseworkers, Resource parents, Tribes, and community partners;
- Train school staff on their role in supporting students in Foster Care; and
- Engage with ODE on matters of professional development and technical assistance (see
Office Hours information below).
Districts are responsible for maintaining current information as staff changes occur and for ensuring Points of Contact are aware of their role.
ODE
To maintain accuracy, ODE runs a monthly contact list report generated from the data entered into the 2024-25 SY Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) Budget Narrative (BN) Application and update our list accordingly. If you have submitted an update that is not yet reflected, please let us know.
2024-25 Foster Care Contact Lists
Contact List Legend Defined
Office Hours
State Foster Care and Transportation Point of Contacts are welcome to join us for Office Hours (OH). This forum offers the opportunity to receive updates to share across the district, connect with other districts to learn about their best practices, and ask questions pertaining to the work.
Schedule
- Office Hours take place on the
second Tuesday of every month, 1:00 - 2:00 pm PT
-
Zoom Registration is required and attendance is
limited to state education contacts
-
Emails that do not belong to a district are subject to removal (Contact us if you have a question about participation eligibility)
-
The
Foster Care newsletter is sent to state points of contact within two weeks after each OH and includes:
- Office Hours meeting slide deck
- Links referenced
- Q & As from the meeting
- Important updates and topics for the following month
- Past newsletters can be found in the archive on ODE's Key Messages webpage by entering 'Foster Care' in the search box
- The Federal Programs team sends a weekly Office Hour reminder to subscribers of the Title I-A newsletter
Foster Care Transportation
Reimbursement Schedule
Quarter Service Dates Due Dates for SY 2024-25
Q1 Jul 1 - Sep 30 2nd Friday in Nov (11/15/2024)
Q2 Oct 1 - Dec 31 2nd Friday in Feb (02/14/2025)
Q3 Jan 1 - Mar 31 2nd Friday in May (05/09/2025)
Q4 Apr 1 - Jun 30 2nd Friday in Aug (08/08/2025)
- Be sure to submit the current SY Foster Care Transportation Reimbursement Form
- Submissions are ONLY accepted through ODE's District Central Login via Secure File Transfer application
- Reimbursement forms sent by email violate
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and will be deleted
- Secure Student Identification Numbers (SSIDs) and other confidential personally identifiable student data must always remain secure and must not be associated with a student’s name in an unsecured place or manner. Displaying student SSIDs with student names on any non-secure materials compromises the security of confidential student information (see
House Bill 2715).
- Late submissions are subject to denial
- Exceptions may be considered when an extension has been requested and pre-approved, but not guaranteed
-
Forms should only include the service dates outlined in the relevant quarter
- Previous quarter reimbursements are unable to roll over
Foster Care Resources