The School Enrollment Process for Group Home Youth:

An Examination of Interagency Collaboration on Behalf of Youth

Transitioning into New Group Homes

Robert H. Ayasse, LCSW, PPSC, Project DirectorRobert H. Ayasse, LCSW, PPSC, Project Director

Jill Duerr Berrick, Ph.D., Principal InvestigatorJill Duerr Berrick, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Jennifer Donahue, MSW, PPSC, Research AssistantJennifer Donahue, MSW, PPSC, Research Assistant

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 What are the specific problems causing delays

in school attendance when a foster youth enters a new group home placement?

Research Question:

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Methods:

    26 Group Homes 3 Counties     Selection of homes stratified by:

county,level of care, geographic area within the

counties

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Subjects: Youth placed in group home between September 2003 and April 2004  Youth changed schools as a result of moving into a new group home  Enrollment data were gathered on 45 newly placed group home youth,   ( 21 in one county, 16 in another, and 8 in the third)

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Data Gathering Tools: Demographic Face Sheet –    Gender, ethnicity, age, school level    Important dates - i.e. the date the youth moved to the new residence and the last day attended in previous school district

   General school information:school district, level in school, and type of previous school

   Previous child welfare placement, county of residence and county of jurisdiction

   Information about special education eligibility: type of disability, availability of IEP, and special education placement

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School Placement Tracking Tool:   Dates of occurrence of certain activities relevant to the enrollment of youth in school    Reasons for delay in carrying out these activities      Examples of Some of the 26 Reasons for Delay are:    “Group home not aware of responsibility;”   “Policy directive;”    “Student refuses placement;” or   “Information not available and whereabouts not known.”

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Table 1: Number of Youth Experiencing

Significant Delays in Starting a New School Regular Regular

EducationEducationSpecial Special

EducationEducationTotalTotal PercentPercent

No DelayNo Delay 88 00 88 18%18%5 – 10 days5 – 10 days 99 44 1313 29%29%11- 18 days11- 18 days 55 33 88 18%18%19 or more 19 or more 44 55 99 20%20%Ran Away Ran Away or Movedor Moved

22 33 55 11%11%

No DataNo Data 22 00 22 4%4%TotalTotal 3030 1515 4545   

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Figure 1: Days of School Missed after

Arriving in Group Home

0

5

10

15

20

25

Number of School Days

Mean Days Out of School

Median Days Out of

School

Youth in Regular Education N=27 Youth in Special Education N=11 Left school district before attending school N=5

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Table 2: Availability of Information for

Previous School Attendance

   Regular Regular Education Education ClassesClasses

Special Special Education Education ServicesServices

No Information About No Information About the Last Day of the Last Day of

Attendance in the Attendance in the Previous DistrictPrevious District

1212 66

Youth with Available Youth with Available Information on Their Information on Their

Last Day of Last Day of AttendanceAttendance

1818 99

TotalTotal 3030 1515

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Figure 2: Median Number of School Days Lost in

Transitioning From One Group Home to Another

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Median Number of School Days

Missed

Youth to attend RegularEducation Classes, N=18

Eligible Youth to receiveSpecial Education services,

N=9

Type of Educational Program

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Reasons for Enrollment Delays: 

Of 26 Youth Who Experienced Over a 5-Day Delay in School Enrollment:

45% of the delays were due to the new school waiting for information (paperwork) to arrive from the previous school – these were also the longest delays

Other reasons: administrative delays in assigning school placement after the paperwork had arrived, vacation, or confusion on the part of the group home staff about who was responsible to complete the enrollment

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Education Passport Utilization 

5 of the 32 (15.6%) caseworkers interviewed had information stored in the Education Passport section of the CWS/CMS

• 4 indicated the foster youth’s Special Education status

2 of 12 youth whose social workers knew they were eligible for Special Education had Passport information about the type of services they needed 5 of 45 instances (11%) group home staff had a current Education Passport available to assist with school enrollment

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Enrollment Policies: 18 of the 25 group homes school had enrollment policies and procedures

• 5 group homes had written policies or procedures • 4 had training or staff development activities

relating to school placement  3 of 7 school districts had some form of written policy and/or directives on the process of enrolling foster youth in school   No written policies were available from the county child welfare agencies

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Recommendations: Child welfare agencies should establish and distribute clear written policies and procedures for enrolling foster youth in school.

Child welfare agencies should require at least minimal educational information to be updated in an Education Passport or similar document/database each time a youth is moved.

• Name and location of most recent school • Special Education status

Local educational agencies should establish clear and easily available written policies for enrolling foster youth and assign district liaisons to ensure that those policies are followed at all school sites.

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Recommendations: Group homes should have clear written policies and procedures for enrolling youth in school and obtaining Educational Passports or similar documents.

All of the involved agencies should provide periodic training on the educational needs of foster youth and the details of their school enrollment policies.

Individual service providers at all of the involved agencies should respond in a timely manner to inquiries and requests for information made by staff from other agencies on behalf of foster youth to assist with their enrollment and/or review of educational placement issues.