Ed. Dept. ripped over foster kids
As city officials prepare to spend record amounts to help vulnerable kids recover from the pandemic, advocates warn that children in foster care are being left behind.
The city schools budget is set to swell by billions this year — padded with new state and federal funds — but the Education Department still has no dedicated staffers working full time on supporting the 6,000 kids in foster care, who graduate at among the lowest rates in the city.
City officials are also proposing to slash the popular “Fair Futures” program that provides coaches to young adults aging out of foster care, reducing funding from nearly $13 million last year to less than $3 million in Mayor de Blasio’s executive budget.
“In a year when the mayor announces the largest budget in city history designed to create a ‘recovery for all,’ he refuses to give a single city dollar to the program providing a lifeline of support to 3,000 youth in foster care,” wrote supporters of the Fair Futures program in a recent statement.
Advocates say students in foster care have long slipped through the cracks of the Education Department bureaucracy.
“I think children in foster care have been overlooked for a long time,” said Melinda Andra, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society who represents kids in child welfare proceedings.
Just 42% of children in foster care graduate on time — a rate lower than almost any other subgroup of students. Roughly 50% of students in foster care have a disability compared with 20% of students citywide.
Andra said many schools want to support students in foster care, but need help navigating the complex legal and emotional terrain of the child welfare system — and sometimes end up hurting more than helping.
One school, for example, rejected a father’s request to see his son’s educational records, wrongly assuming he no longer had parental rights because the boy was living in foster care, Andra said. The conflict created additional stress for the boy and his family during an already traumatic time, she said.
“The creation of an office for children in foster care could help guide schools when it comes to” issues like that, Andra added.
In a report to be released Tuesday, lawyers from the Legal Aid Society and Advocates for Children argue for a dedicated Education Department foster care office modeled on the agency’s approach to supporting homeless students, which involves a citywide office and borough-based support staff.
“Someone who knows those laws, how to train schools in it,” said Erika Palmer, an attorney at Advocates for Children. The population of students in foster care is small enough that the office wouldn’t require a major financial investment, advocates add.
Education Department officials say there are dedicated staffers at every level of the city school system monitoring students in foster care, even if that’s not their only job.
“We will review this proposal and continue to support our students in foster care,” said agency spokesman Nathaniel Styer.
The lack of dedicated personnel in the Education Department isn’t the only concern for kids in foster care, advocates say.
Students and foster care agency officials say the Fair Futures program, which currently provides life and career coaches to about 3,000 young adults managing the transition out of foster care, has been a bright spot in a dark year — and warn that cutting it could have devastating effects.
“The relationship they [young adults in foster care] have with their coach is really primary,” said Jess Danhauser, the CEO of the foster care agency Graham Windham. “So you’re essentially telling young people who have had a significant amount of instability in their lives that you’re going to cut this relationship off. It’s really, really a horrible message to them.”
A spokesman for the Administration for Children’s Services said the agency “remains committed to Fair Futures,” and “look[s] forward to working with the City Council to ensure that the adopted budget contains sufficient funds to continue the full implementation of the program.”