Community Collaboration

To Improve Services to Early Childhood Students in Foster Care

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Today’s Facilitators

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Tracy Duarte, Director

Pennsylvania’s Head Start State Collaboration Office

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Tabitha Kramer, Supervisor

Pennsylvania’s Educational Stability for Foster Care Youth

Ice Breaker

Share…

• Your name
• Where you work
• Brief description of your role
• What county/counties you support

Agenda Topics

• Bridging gaps
• Barriers young children experience
• Services available for early childhood students in foster care
• Recruiting in early childhood programs
• Eligibility and referral systems
• Early Childhood Education and Foster Care Self-Assessment Tool

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Communication is Key

• Small group sharing and discussion
• Large group sharing and questions
• Input and feedback
• Slido

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Group Discussion

Slido

Today’s Goal

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• To familiarize early childhood programs with the foster care agencies and processes.
• To familiarize foster care agencies with early childhood programs and processes.
• To ensure appropriate referrals to early childhood programs for children in foster care.
• To strengthen the process for foster care students’ transition to kindergarten.
• To develop meaningful relationships to support early childhood students in foster care.

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Foster Care

Pop Quiz

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• What is the Child Welfare Agency’s goal for children in foster care? Reunification/ find other permanent arrangements

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• Informal kinship care is considered a foster care placement. Informal- Child Welfare Agency doesn’t have legal custody and the child’s parents agree to the arrangement.

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13,636 Children in Foster Care in Pennsylvania �2021

2021 Pennsylvania�Children in Foster Care by Placement Setting

2021 Pennsylvania�Children in Foster Care by Precipitating Event

Sexual Abuse

Abandonment

Physical Abuse

Inadequate

Housing

Child’s

Behavior

Problem

Neglect

Inability to Cope

Parental

Substance Abuse

Foster Care Definition

• 24-hour substitute care
• Placed in an out-of-home placement
• Child welfare agency has placement and care responsibility
• Placed under order of the court

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Foster Care Placements

• Residential treatment facilities
• Foster homes/resource families
• Formal kinship care
• Group homes
• Emergency shelters
• Childcare institutions
• Pre-adoptive homes
• Independent living settings
• Respite Care

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Formal vs. Informal Kinship Care

Child is placed with a family member or someone who has a close relationship with the family to care for the child.

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• Formal Kinship: Child Welfare Agency has legal custody and places the child.
• This is a foster care placement.

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• Informal Kinship: Child Welfare Agency doesn’t have legal custody and the child’s parents agree to the arrangement.
• This is NOT a foster care placement.

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Child Welfare Agencies

• Investigate reports
• Support families (provide prevention services)
• Provide temporary safe shelter
• Seek to return children to their families when safety has improved or find other permanent arrangements

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Foster Care Agencies

• Foster Parents/ Resource Parents
• Family-Based Services
• Emergency Shelter
• Respite Care
• Adoption Services
• Parenting Classes
• Private/ public foster care agencies
• Pennsylvania State Resource Family Association
• Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network

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Foster Care Causes Trauma for Young Children

• Loss of home, possessions, family, and pets
• Lack of security and basic needs
• Exposure to violence or threats of violence
• Exposure to stress/ trauma
• Loss of routine

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Foster Care and Education

PA’s Educational Stability for Foster Care Youth

Region 2

• Professional development
• Technical assistance
• Assistance with breaking down educational barriers
• Assistance with disputes

Every Student Succeeds Act (2015)

• Collaboration
• Best Interest Determination Process
• Provision of Transportation
• Immediate Enrollment and Record Transfers

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Academic Outcomes: 20-21 Graduation Rate

Foster Care Students

Homeless Students

All Student Groups

53%

69%

86.7%

Assessment Results: 20-21 Mathematics Proficiency

Foster Care Students

Homeless Students

All Student Groups

17%

34%

61.8%

Core Values for Effective Transitions

• Collaborative, responsive, and trusting relationships with families.
• Ongoing communication with all stakeholders- including families, program staff, and others.
• Respect for diverse linguistic/cultural backgrounds and experiences, strengths, and needs of children and families.
• Positive relationships between adults and children as foundations for children’s learning and development.
• Competent, knowledgeable staff to implement transition practices.
• Resource: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/ESSA/TransitioningToKindergarten_WhyWhatHow.pdf

Tips for Staff and Teachers

• Learn more about foster care and connect with your point of contact.
• Create a welcoming climate and build trust with students
• Help identify and support students in foster care
• Take a trauma-informed approach
• Stabilize basic needs and support full participation
• Ensure classroom policies and procedures set up students for success.
• Reach out to foster parents, CYS, or other contacts

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• Resources: Transition to Kindergarten- PA Keys and Tips for Teachers and Staff

Early Childhood Education

Common Issues with Transitions

• Child needs to adjust to foster care placement and being away from the birth parent(s)
• Lack of knowledge by early education professionals about how to help a child with a history of trauma
• Difficulty enrolling a child in foster care because a lack of health information, sometimes resulting in a change of placement

Common Issues with Transitions

• Behavior problems resulting in the child not being allowed to go back into care
• Behavior issues that often lead to suspension or expulsion from care are based on childhood trauma and include:
• Acting out toward staff or other children
• Stealing
• Ruining property
• Not following rules
• Not listening to the childcare provider

Early Learning Landscape

• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs
• Pre-K Counts Program
• Early Intervention
• Birth to three
• Three to five
• Early Learning Resource Centers
• Berks and Schuylkill
• Chester
• Dauphin, Lancaster, and Lebanon
• Private Childcare Centers

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Head Start and Early Head Start

Free, federally funded programs designed to promote school readiness for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and provides education, support for health, and social services.

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Early Head Start

• supports pregnant women and families with children younger than 3 years of age.

Head Start

• Serve children between 3 and 5 years old.
• Support children with identified needs (such as physical and developmental delays), children in foster care, and children experiencing homelessness.
• Head Start Locator

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Head Start and Early Head Start (HSPPS)

• Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance
• Community Assessment
• Children in Foster Care are categorically eligible for HS/EHS
• Must actively recruit children in Foster Care
• Must be prioritized for enrollment in selection criteria
• Must attempt to maintain children in Foster Care despite moves
• HS/EHS programs may choose to reserve slots for children in Foster Care

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Pre-K Counts Program in Pennsylvania

• Free half-day or full-day pre-kindergarten for at-risk children throughout Pennsylvania
• Supports children between the ages of 3 and younger than Kindergarten entry age for the residing district.

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• To find a Pre-K Counts program, visit: https://www.compass.state.pa.us/compass.web/providersearch/Home#/BasicSearch
• Pre-K Counts Brochure

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Early Intervention: Birth to Five

• Provides coaching support and services to children with developmental delays and disabilities in one or more of the following areas:

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• Physical development, including vision and hearing
• Cognitive development
• Communication development
• Social or emotional development
• Adaptive development

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• To make a referral, call the CONNECT Helpline: 1-800-692-7288 or email help@connectpa.net

Early Learning Resource Center

• Operates Child Care Works Program
• Provides support for childcare professionals
• Offers childcare resources
• Partners with the community to support children

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• ELRC Region 9 and 10- Dauphin, Lancaster, and Lebanon Counties
• ELRC Region 13 -Berks and Schuylkill Counties
• ELRC Region 19 -Chester County
• ELRC Locations

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Suggestions for Early Childhood Programs

• Ensure that appropriate permission is in place, each time, when a child is picked up for a visit with the birth parent(s). Often the person picking up the child changes week to week, or the birth parent(s) drops in for a visit. The childcare program needs to ensure that the child is only being visited or taken by permission.
• Ensure confidentiality about the fact that a particular child is in foster care. Early education and childcare professionals should not reference that a child is in foster care in front of other parents or other children.
• Encourage awareness that children in foster care are often very sensitive to transitions and separation. In addition, the times right before and/or after visits can be very stressful for the child.

Case Study: Sara’s Story

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Activity Instructions:

• Review envelope #1 at the table.
• Discuss the questions at the bottom.
• Choose one participant to share a summary of the conversation.
• Please do not open the other envelopes until instructed to do so.

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Community Collaboration

Strategies to Enhance Identification and Outreach

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• Develop posters, brochures and other recruitment materials with information about early childhood students in foster care.
• Place outreach materials where foster families frequent.
• Adapt program procedures to include referrals to early childhood programs.
• Develop a communication plan with CCYA, foster care agencies, early childhood programs, and school districts

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Community Partners

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• County Children and Youth Agencies
• Foster Care Agencies
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs
• Pre-K Counts Program
• Early Intervention Program
• Early Learning Resource Center
• School District Foster Care Points of Contact
• PA’s Educational Stability for Foster Care Youth
• PA’s State Collaboration office

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Strategies for Connecting with Community Partners

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• Identify strategies and locations for outreach and recruitment
• Collaborating to host enrollment events or resource fairs at children and youth agencies, foster care agencies, and other locations
• Offer subsidy and program application assistance
• Create directories for foster care families and partnering agency staff about available resources

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New Resource Available!

Early Childhood Brochure for Young Children in Foster Care

Strategies for Connecting with Community Partners

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• Expedite referral processes to facilitate enrollment and service access
• Attend resource fairs
• Share training and professional development opportunities
• Request or share data to understand community needs
• Participate in advisory groups, councils, and task forces
• Joint funding
• State level coordination

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May is National Foster Care Month

• Activity suggestions:
• https://fostercaremonth.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth/
• https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/foster-care-month/things-you-can-do-fcm03.pdf

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• Outreach Toolkit
• Sample Social Media Posts
• Sample Graphics for Staff

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Action Steps: CCYA and Foster Care Agencies

• Complete the Self-Assessment Tool
• Visit the HS Locator to find local early childhood programs
• Set up a meeting with local EC directors and develop a plan for connecting students in foster care
• Provide clients with EC enrollment forms
• Invite EC directors and staff to existing meetings and trainings
• Create a MOU that formalizes your relationship

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Action Steps: Early Childhood Programs

• Complete the Self-Assessment Tool
• Get involved with your local foster care agencies and school district
• Set up meetings with local foster care agencies and identify ways in which both organizations can improve services for children in foster care
• Share resources on early childhood development (including activities and developmental screening tools) with foster care agencies
• Invite foster care agencies to staff trainings or to join Policy Council or the Health Services Advisory Committee
• Create a MOU that formalizes your partnership

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Action Steps: School Districts

• Complete the Self-Assessment Tool
• Provide early childhood resources to foster families with birth to five-year-olds
• Develop a process to support foster care children's transition to kindergarten
• Partner with early childhood educational programs to ensure a smooth transition to kindergarten
• Strengthen relationships with children and youth agencies and foster care agencies

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Small Group Exercise

• Review Assessment Tools

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Resources

• Data Express Website
• Head Start Locator
• How the Child Welfare System Works
• State-level Foster Care Data
• Educational Stability for Foster Care Youth Website
• Helping Children Successfully Transition
• Head Start and Early Head Start Eligibility for Children in Kinship Care ACF-IM-HS-19-03

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Regional and State Contacts

Tracy Duarte, Director

Pennsylvania’s Head Start State Collaboration Office

tradua@pakeys.org

814-327-3263

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Tabitha Kramer, Supervisor

Pennsylvania’s Educational Stability for Foster Care Youth

tabkra@berksiu.org

610-603-6162