DCS: Foster kids must go to school in person

While parents, teachers and public officials debate whether it’s safe to send kids back to the classroom, one group is guaranteed to be on site when schools reopen: foster children.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety has advised foster parents and relatives who care for kids in DCS custody that the children should attend school in person, whenever schools reopen.

“Children and youth are seeking normalcy,” DCS Director Mike Faust wrote in a letter to caregivers this month. Kids benefit from the engagement that a traditional classroom allows, he said, while noting that lessons might be delivered in nontraditional ways (such as distance learning) at the start of the school year.

There are 12,900 children in Arizona’s foster system, according to the most recent numbers available.

Pros and cons

The agency’s directive drew mixed reactions from foster and biological parents, reflecting diverging opinions nationwide about classrooms welcoming back children. But many parents, both foster and biological, contacted for this story balked at a one-size-fits-all decision.

Suzanne Cordiero, a foster parent, said the people actually caring for the child in their homes should determine what’s the best school option. A blanket order — even with some exceptions, which DCS says it will consider — signals that foster kids aren’t the same as other kids, she said.

“It sends a message to the foster kids that they are different and perhaps sacrificial, when a biological or adopted kid gets to stay home and they have to go to school,” Cordiero wrote in an email to The Republic.

The schooling directive was news to Margaret Fitzgerald. Her son has been in DCS custody for nearly three years and she is facing a court decision on whether her parental rights should be terminated.

“I was never informed,” Fitzgerald said.

But if she had a say in the matter, Fitzgerald said she wouldn’t send her son, age 9, to the classroom.

“If it (the virus) were under control,

I’d consider it,” she said. But given current circumstances, it would be better to do distance learning.

Possible exceptions

When children are in state custody, DCS is effectively the parent.

Faust, in his letter, told caregivers he reached his decision after consulting with health experts as well as heeding advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The academy said the school decision should start with the goal of getting kids back in the classroom, while acknowledging numerous considerations that could keep the child at home.

DCS is weighing exceptions, particularly for children with compromised immune systems or other underlying medical conditions. Foster parents say the DCS phone line to request exceptions and more information is constantly busy.

If there are people in the foster home who could be at heightened risk of infection, or if a household is in quarantine, DCS wants the foster parent to consult with the agency’s education liaison to figure out the best approach.

(The letter can be found at https:// dcs.az.gov/. Look for the COVID-19 banner at the top of the page.)

State officials are expected to provide guidelines by Aug. 7 to help schools decide whether to open their classrooms. Meanwhile, virtual school doors open early next month.

Stability, safety at school

Child-welfare advocates say schools are vital to keeping kids safe, both physically and emotionally.

“Schools offer a sense of community and stability,” said Claire Louge, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Arizona. Kids develop friendships with classmates and get a sense of consistency from the school routine.

That stability and consistency can come from any caring adult, be it a parent or a teacher, as long as they are a protective, nurturing, regular presence in the child’s life, she said.

That should factor into the decision of whether to go back to the classroom or do schooling from home, Louge said.

Schools also provide another set of eyes on children. Teachers and other school personnel are mandatory reporters of child abuse. Since physical classrooms closed in mid-March, many child-welfare advocates have worried that instances of child abuse and neglect have slipped under the radar.

Coalitions such as the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative in southern Arizona have formed in recent months to raise awareness of the importance of reporting suspected child abuse.

Even if children do distance learning, school officials have a duty to report, said Marie Fordney, executive director of the Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center.

“It’s definitely harder to keep eyes on kids when you’re in a virtual meeting,” Fordney said. “It’s hard to pay attention to the subtle, nonverbal cues people have.”

Despite the virtual barriers, Fordney said she believes teachers are still committed to taking responsibility for the safety of their students.

Reasons to be wary

The fear of children either contracting COVID-19, or transmitting it from the classroom to people in their temporary foster home, has made many foster parents wary of kids returning to classrooms. COVID is the disease that develops from the new coronavirus.

But others cite the benefits of school, noting the risk of children contracting the virus is low, based on current data.

Foster parent Kellie Soper said she has two nephews who have been in and out of the foster care system. Children who have endured trauma need the routine that a regular classroom day provides, she said.

“They don’t have the attention span needed to sit on a screen,” she said.

Plus, for foster children on individualized education plans, nothing is better than the in-person contact a classroom teacher can provide, she said.

“I get frustrated that education is not considered essential, but Landis Bike is still operating,” Soper said, adding that schools are best positioned to decide when it’s safe to reopen classrooms.

Amanda Lankford is a foster parent and a teacher. She also has someone in her home who is immunocompromised.

“School is the best place for a child to learn when it’s safe,” she said. “However, we cannot risk the health of the educators and demand in-person learning without proper safety measures, protocols and daily procedures in place.”

With a shortage of teachers and substitutes, Arizona can’t afford to lose more instructors, Lankford said.

“Right now, my kids are losing either way.“

Whose daughters are in a group home

‘I’m beside myself either way’

For Becky Pusch, the back-to-school decision is fraught.

“It’s hard doing what’s best for your family when your decisions are sublimated,” she said.

Since the 12-year-old foster girl in her care must return to the classroom, her family risks exposure to the virus.

“I’m just torn,” Pusch said. She’s leaning toward a hybrid model (several days in the classroom, the rest of the time learning from home) for her two biological children. But if she does that, while sending the foster daughter to the classroom, she fears she’s effectively telling the 12-year-old she’s expendable.

Stephanie Brownson is also torn. Her two daughters are in a group home and she worries they’ve already lost ground academically because they aren’t pushed to do their schoolwork. But going into a classroom poses risks both to health and to learning, she said.

“I don’t want my kids to go to school only with kids whose parents have no other options,” she said. She worries parents of higher-achieving students will keep their kids home because they have the ability to work from home, leaving lower-achieving students to populate classrooms.

“I’m beside myself either way,” Brownson said. “Right now, my kids are losing either way.”

If the girls were in her custody, she said, she would keep them home and do remote learning, given the current spread of COVID-19 in the state.