Skip To Main Content

Foster Care Information

Contact:


Susan Aylor
Executive Director of Special Education & Student Services
540-661-4550
saylor@ocss-va.org


For children and youth in foster care, a change in home placement frequently results in a change in school placement. The educational impact of every school change is significant. Each time students enter new schools, they must adjust to different curricula, different expectations, new friends, and new teachers. Keeping children in the same school provides continuity in education, maintains important relationships at school, provides stability during a traumatic time for the children, and improves educational and life outcomes. (Virginia Department of Education)

Virginia revised its joint guidance in 2017 to implement the provisions of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections) and the Title I, Part A provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) to ensure school stability for students in foster care.

Both acts mandate educational stability for children in out-of-home care and require child welfare agencies (i.e., department of social services, licensed child-placing agencies) to coordinate with local educational agencies (school divisions) to ensure educational stability for every child in foster care. (Virginia Department of Education)

For more information, please contact Susan Aylor, Executive Director of Special Education and Student Services at saylor@ocss-va.org.