There are over 20,000 children in foster care in New York City, and those of school age are among the most at-risk students in the city’s public schools. These are children who have been exposed to a range of experiences both prior to and during placement in care, including neglect, abuse, separation from biological family members, parental drug use during pregnancy, and frequent changes in foster homes and schools. These experiences increase their chances of having developmental delays, weaker cognitive abilities, behavioral and emotional problems, and higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness — any or all of which contribute to poor academic performance and retention. Moreover, it is a conservative estimate that at least 40% of children in foster care in New York City have special education needs. Despite their desperate need for the boost provided by early intervention, pre-school programs, appropriate public school education, and other special services to which they are entitled, the educational needs of children in foster care often go unmet because of the rigorous documentation required and the substantial amount of parent participation and advocacy required.

AFC has created a model program, called Project Achieve, to ensure that children in or at-risk of placement in foster care receive access to appropriate educational services, something severely lacking prior to the project’s implementation. Conceived as a model for bringing AFC’s education expertise and advocacy directly to families and staff members at foster care and preventive services agencies, this innovative and collaborative program employs three key strategies:

1. Providing individual case assistance and advocacy to all clients of a child welfare agency who are identified as having unmet education-related needs;
2. Building the capacity of agency service staff, caseworkers and supervisors to help them identify and solve routine school-related issues;
3. Empowering and educating birth and foster parents and, where appropriate, young people, to navigate the New York City Department of Education (DOE), and other agencies providing educational services such as Early Intervention, and to be actively involved in educational planning and progress.

The Project Achieve model was first piloted at Louise Wise Services (LWS), a private preventive services and foster care agency in New York City, from the fall of 2002 to the spring of 2004. Our work at LWS demonstrated that the project is a viable, effective model, capable of replication at any child welfare agency.