Foster Children

November 1, 2002

Many children who have been in the child welfare system, who are more likely to have difficulty in school, are concentrated in schools in the poorest neighborhoods on the South and West sides, a joint analysis by Catalyst and The Chicago Reporter shows. These children are likely to attend the system’s worst high schools, and few graduate. Schools get few, if any, extra resources to address the academic and emotional needs of these children.

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Foster children Catalyst and The Chicago Reporter Many children who have been in the child welfare system, who are more likely to have difficulty in school, are concentrated in schools in the poorest neighborhoods on the South and West sides, a joint analysis by Catalyst and The Chicago Reporter shows. These children are likely to attend the system's worst high schools, and few graduate. Schools get few, if any, extra resources to address the academic and emotional needs of these children. Details Neither CPS nor the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has accurately tracked the placement... > Read More
South suburban districts grapple with influx of foster children Sarah Karp Chicago schools are not the only ones grappling with the education of former and current foster children. Eight south suburban school districts are asking the state legislature for help with such students. The superintendents of these districts say that in the past seven or eight years they have seen an influx of foster children and children who were recently adopted. The school districts realized they shared this problem after they got together to form the South Cook Education Consortium to lobby for regional school funding changes. Districts that joined are in South Holland... > Read More
Urban districts search for solutions Maureen Kelleher Chicago is not alone in its struggle to improve the education of foster children. Researchers agree that foster children face similar obstacles in school no matter where they live. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that there were 556,000 children in foster care in 2000. The number of foster children in Cook County this year was pegged at just over 15,400, according to DCFS records. The following roadblocks were outlined in studies by the Vera Institute for Justice in New York and by the Child Welfare Research Center at the University of California: Lack... > Read More
State program strives to engage wards in school Maureen Kelleher Last year, several boys who were wards of the state and lived together in a group home repeatedly missed classes and caused trouble at Corliss High School. Principal Anthony Spivey declines to share details, but says their discipline problems were severe enough for him to know them personally in a school of over 1,000 students. This year, he says, only one of them has landed in his office. For the most part, the boys are better behaved and attending school regularly. What made the difference is Project STRIVE, a program funded by the Department of Children and Family... > Read More
Child welfare RX has side effects for schools Sarah Karp When Tyrone McGhee began missing classes at Austin High School halfway through his sophomore year in 1999, few noticed. The tall, quiet young man says not one teacher or counselor called his house or tracked him down. "Some of the students cared," he says. "My friends were like, 'Hey, where's Tyrone?'" McGhee is a ward of the state, and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is his official guardian, school records show. Caseworkers are supposed to check on wards at their schools every six months. But McGhee said he didn't see a caseworker that entire year.... > Read More
Grandparent guardians on the rise Maureen Kelleher Mary Anna Brown, 74, sits in the attendance office at Marshall High School waiting to discuss her great-grandson's spotty attendance record. Classes have been in session for only a month yet he has already missed five days. The 15-year-old freshman is the oldest of five great-grandchildren whom Brown adopted a few years ago following her granddaughter's death. "I didn't want them to grow up in a foster home," she says. But raising them on her own is a daily challenge to Brown's energy and financial wherewithal. "I've got five children in three schools," Brown frets as she... > Read More