What Keeps Children in Foster Care from Succeeding in School?

The adults who might be expected to be concerned with a foster child's educational progress "often do not communicate effectively to carry out decisions regarding educational issues in a timely fashion."

The perceived stigma of being in foster care prevents many foster children from interacting normally with other students. Many don't like to reveal to their peers that they are in care. Some isolate themselves socially because of this. Expectations that foster children will be labeled as troublemakers can be self-fulfilling, as these children continue to see that adults expect them to fail.

Most of the children have an adult they could turn to in times of crisis. Most had developed a trusting relationship with some school staff, yet those school staff were sometimes had little understanding of the child's home life. None felt their caseworkers filled that role (CASA isn't mentioned).

School staff tended to see foster children as very similar to others; they often don't recognize the special issues they face.

Foster children blamed themselves for not doing well in school.

Children did not understand the caseworkers' roles, said they turned over a lot, and didn't make an effort to create relationships with them. Caseworkers did not keep them informed about the status of their families, creating tensions that carried over into school.

Adults didn't typically understand school issues the way the kids did. Most gave education a low priority given the number of other issues surrounding the children. Foster parents, in particular, did not understand their children's perspectives on education. While most children felt the stigma of being in care, foster parents almost universally said the children felt nothing of the kind.

Members of each adult group recognized that someone had to be responsible for monitoring the academic progress of foster children - but someone other than themselves. So, no one seems to have primary responsibility.

Both children and foster parents were frustrated by school staff's limited understanding of the child welfare system. Lack of communication about children was part of the problem; school staff weren't given information which could help them understand the child's behavioral problems.