Title: The Education of Children in California who Live in Group Homes : Just How Bad is it and What Should be Done?
1The Education of Children in California who Live
in Group Homes Just How Bad is it and What
Should be Done?
2 3- Number of youth in foster care in U.S. gt500,000
(Weinberg et al. 2001) - Number of youth in foster care in California
gt100,000 (Morena 2001) - Number of youth in California who live in group
homes 18,500 - Number of group homes in California 1,634
4Group Homes
- Also called Licensed Childrens Institutions
(LCIs) - Residential facilities
- Licensed by the State
- Six or more youth
- Mostly dependents or wards
- Mostly higher level of care
5How Youth End up in Group Homes
- Placed by Child Welfare Services (abuse or
neglect) -- dependents - Placed by probation (violated a law)
alternative to juvenile hall -- wards - Placed by an expanded IEP team (severely
emotionally disturbed)
6Outcomes for Foster Youth
- 37 had not finished high school
- 39 were unemployed
- 27 males, 10 females incarcerated 1 times
- 39 receiving public assistance
- (study of former foster youth 12-18 months after
emancipation Courtney Piliavin, 1998)
7This Study (March, 2003)
- 15 months 1(U.S.) million
- Goal provide a detailed road map for improving
educational services AND address issues of
finance - Report
- 1. Fiscal analysis
- 2. Existing system
- 3. Implementation of this system
- 4. Data analysis
- 5. Recommendations
8Methodology
- Fiscal arrangements
- finance committee
- Policies and procedures -- State
- interviews
- document reviews
- stakeholder committee
- Policies and procedures -- Counties
- interviews
- document reviews
- focus groups
- youth placement profiles
9Problem Areas
- 1. Fiscal arrangement
- 2. Capacity
- 3. Accountability and responsibility
- 4. Records and information transfer
- 5. Interagency relationships
- 6. Advocacy
10100 NPS Reimbursement Formula
- School districts reimbursed 100 for extra costs
of special ed services if - (a) served in an NPS, AND
- (1) placed in LCI or FFH
- (2) by a non-education agency
- (3) parents ed rights removed, OR
- (b) placement outside school district in which
parents live NOT - (c) if placed out of state
11Youth Placement Profiles
- Track educational and residential history back
one year - Sample 308 youth ages 12-18 eight counties
- Three field workers
- 2-5 youth per home, randomly selected
- Information from caseworkers/probation officers,
schools, residences, youth - About 45 minutes/youth/source
12Authority
- Educational records Agent of the State
- Residential records and youth interviews
standing court orders from youth's county of
adjudication
13Obstacles
- Judges delayed/refused to issue order
- Group homes still wouldn't let us in
- Social workers/probation officers would not
return repeated phone calls - Mental health placements parental consent and
lawyer's consent - Missing data
- Interviewee couldn't provide information
14Data Collection Indicators
15Age of Youth in Sample
16Gender of Youth in Sample(Source Caseworker/PO
interviews)
17Race/Ethnicity of Youth in Sample(Sources
Caseworker/PO interviews 2000 Census, based on
1999-00 K-12 enrolment)
18Agency Responsible for Youth in Sample
19Do Parents Maintain Educational Rights?(Source
Caseworkers/POs)
20Demographics of Youth in Sample
- About 16 years old
- Mostly boys
- Overrepresentation of Blacks underrepresentation
of Latinos - Placed by Social Services or Probation
- For 15 of the youth, caseworker/PO doesn't know
if parents maintain ed rights
21Frequencies and Annual Costs of Services for
Youth in Sample (based on current residential and
education placements)(Source current group
homes and schools)
22Numbers of Youth in Sample Who Receive Mental
Health Services(Source Group Homes)
23Spending on Youth Examples
- Levon
- lives in a group home
- attends an NPS
- receives the following services intensive day
Tx, med support, crisis intervention, TBS - avg annual cost 152,704
- Jose
- lives in a group home
- attends regular ed classes in a regular pub
school - receives mental health services
- avg annual cost 78,328
24How Academic Progress Previous Semester
Documented(Source Schools)
25Grade Point Average (GPA)(Source Schools)
26Enroled Credits Earned (Prior Semester)
27Educational Outcomes
- No one has any idea how a lot of these youth are
doing - Most of the youth who did not receive letter
grades are in special ed - The youth for whom we do have educational
information are falling behind
28Number of Days Missed Between Educational
Placements (over prior 12 months)(Source
Schools)
29Number of Days Youth Resided at Current Group
Home Before Enroled in School
30Reasons Youth Missed School(Source Current
Group Homes)
31Amount of School Missed
- Significant numbers of youth have missed several
days or more of school over the past year when
they changed schools/homes - Youth say they missed more
- Regular public schools put up roadblocks to
enroling these youth
32Number of Educational Placements Over Past 12
Months(Source Schools)
33Number of Educational Placements Over Past 12
Months According to Youth
34Length of Time Spent at Any Given School(Source
Schools)
35Educational Itinerancy
- Youth frequently change schools
- Youth report more changes than do schools
- Schools report only 56 attended same school over
past 12 months youth report only 37 - Twenty per cent of schools and 41 of youth
report attending three or more schools over past
year - Youth rarely stay at one school for long
36Changed School Mid-Semester Because of
Residential Change(Over Youth's Time in Foster
Care)(Source Youth)
37Number of Mid-Semester Moves(Over Youth's Time
in Foster Care)(Source Youth)
38Number of Residential Placements Over Past 12
Months
39Whether Out-of-County Placement Driven by
Residential or Educational Needs(Source
Caseworkers/POs)
40Reason for Termination of Educational
Placement(Source Caseworkers/POs)
41Residential Itinerancy
- Overwhelmingly, youth change schools because they
change residential placements - Youth change homes frequently
- More than 2/3rds of youth say they have changed
schools mid-semester - Average of four such moves over a youth's life
42RecommendationsOverarching Principals
- Child-centered system
- Education agencies (State and local) primarily
responsible - Foster youth recognised by State as special group
- Education recognised as primary service
- Voice for foster youth
- All needs considered together as a whole
- Educational success dependent on stability of
residential and educational placements - All professionals involved act as advocates
43Recommendations for Change
- 1. Alternative to 100 NPS reimbusement formula
- 2. Strengthen accountability and monitoring of
public and nonpublic education received - 3. Develop independent state and local oversight
boards - 4. Change/expand Ombudsman Office
- independent
- education
- 5. Establish interagency working goups (State and
county levels)
44Recommendations for Change (cont.)
- 6. Education agencies responsible for education
of foster youth clear roles for others - 7. Ensure continuous enrolment in same school
- 8. Single, statewide, web-based data system
accessible to all agencies - 9. Acceptance and awarding of partial credit
- 10. Interagency training
- 11. Improvement and increased monitoring of court
and community schools