001We're just trying to make sure that everybody is muted and we'll go ahead and get started. To get to just launch us out, please let us know who you are and where you're from and go ahead and drop that information in the chat. Tracy Miner, Aella from Eagle Pass, Aelia, welcome. Good morning, Deanna Vicki, Kelly Johnson, Jill Simon, Jennifer, welcome. Welcome. We're so glad that you all are here from across our great state. We are so glad that you are here and that you are joining us. If this is your first time, your first time attending a foster care training with TEA, put a number one in the chat. If you're new, this is your first time, we welcome you. Put a one in the chat. If you are somebody who has been with us
002before and you've attended trainings in the past, go ahead and put a two in the chat. We want to see who is with us today. Wonderful. So, we have such an excellent combination of first timers and folks that have been with us. Uh, excellent. And I am confident that today's training, whether this is the very first time or it's a training and you've attended other foster care webinars, uh other trainings that we've provided, that today is going to be meaningful to you. Um so again, thank you um for taking time out. >> Um Kelly, before we begin, I wanted to introduce uh Dr. Gay Lang is in the audience right now. Um Dr. Dr. Link, did you want to uh unmute yourself to uh introduce yourself or would you like us to go ahead and
003just um Yes. Oh, she does not want to. Uh Kelly, would you like to introduce Dr. Lang, please? She's saying hi. >> Great. We're joined with our director, Dr. Lang, and we're so glad that she's here joining us. Um we are in the office of special populations and student supports and specifically a special division dedicated to student supports and so grateful for Dr. Lang being here with us today. Um, as we get started, we want to refer you to the foster care and student success resource guide. This is the resource nationally the best resource in the state of Texas, the best resource on foster care. It's the foster care and student success resource guide. This is our second version of the guide. I have dropped it in the chat. Um, we are going to be
004referencing this guide and resource. This is your manual and we want to make sure that you know about it and that you have it and that you can reference it. Um, I've got a hard copy. Folks in our room today may have hard copies as we've given this out at tre uh presentations the foster care summit in the past. Um, it's available digitally. So, please download it. Encourage you to print it off, mark it up, and have it as a resource. And we will be referring you to information. It's very rich, very robust. Um, but want to make sure that you know that you have the information that you need in your hands and um, whether we are in a training or not, you have what you need to support and serve students in foster
005care effectively. This guide is written in collaboration with the Department of Family Protective Services as well as the Supreme Court of Texas Children's Commission and TEA and is a premier resource on supporting um, students in foster care and education. Let's go ahead and go to the next slide. Okay, as we're getting started, we want to tell you a little bit about who we are. So, we are specifically the highly mobile and atrisisk student programs team and we who is on our team. Um, we're actually missing our other team member, Dr. Desiree Verdantes today. Um, but we are we serve students experiencing homelessness through our Teti program. Um, if you also are the McKini Vento leaison or you are familiar with Teti, please uh drop a five in the chat. Um, we serve and support students
006experiencing foster care. Um, pregnancy related services, military connected students and really all students at risk, dropout prevention. We are the leaders at the agency uh, related to these work streams, our highly mobile student groups. Thank you to everybody who dropped a five. you are involved with the TETI program and you also serve students in foster care. Um we appreciate you guys being here. So today we're going to be providing you updates, resources, and information um that will help you in serving students in foster care. We're now doing welcome and introductions. We're going to go over who is f who is in foster care, what does that mean? Um we're going to go over some PES related guidance and identification. We're going to share key reminders and updates. And then we're going to have an opportunity
007for technical assistance and then we're going to load you up with resources and materials. And like I said, the questions, we're going to have a time at the end where we can um unmute uh show who we are on the screen and literally pretend we are all in the same room having a conversation about how we can effectively serve students in foster care. Bring your questions, write them down. Um and we can't wait to just have a discussion and answer your questions. Okay, we already briefly introduced ourselves. Um but again wanted uh the team to have the opportunity. So as I said I'm Kelly Kravitz. Um go ahead Dr. Lei. >> I'm Dr. Ann Lei. >> And then we have >> I'm John Dobbins HMR program specialist. >> Great. >> Okay. We have a few
008technical support and engagement housekeeping items um for our uh webinar today. As we were are um getting our participants coming in. Just know that we do have a new format this year. Um, and so we are able to see your beautiful faces uh this morning and we will have opportunities for interactions and unmuting to be able to um engage in some of the materials. Today our chat feature is turned on and we will be monitoring the questions and comments that are in there. We will also be using that as a um a hub for us to be able to share some of the links um that are relevant to the screens that we're sharing, but also um where you can find some of this information in our foster care and success student success guide. And
009so we'll be able to uh link you directly to where you can find more information on that. This presentation is being recorded and will be made will be made available on our website by the following week. And what's also new for this year for the 2526 school year, our CPE certificate will be provided for those who are attending the training live, but also by completing the end of the webinar feedback survey. So, please um stay on um as long as you can until the 11:00 when we're done with our content. You'll get our uh survey uh link there, complete it, and then a CPE certificate will be emailed to you. All right, I'm going to hand it back over to the team. >> Thank you, Ann. So, we're going to start with an overview of
010students in foster care. Who are these students? We would like to start off by everyone uh that has worked with students in foster care in the past. Uh let's take a moment to just reflect. Do you remember students or a student in particular that you worked with in foster care? and keep them in mind while we're going through our training today because we're really focusing on them. What can we do as the adult figures in their life to help them be successful not only in school but beyond the school setting? First of all, who are students of foster care? So foster care does refer to children and youth who are in the custody of the state due to abuse, neglect uh regardless of their living conditions. These are stu sorry these are students that have
011been uh legal put in legal custody of the department of family protective services by the courts because they cannot safely remain with their parents or legal guardians. Uh DPS will secure a relative, a foster home or other setting. so the student uh can be safe and take care of their well-being. So the Department of Family and Protective Services, a couple of definitions. What is conservatorship? Conservatorship is when DFPS has um is described when they have legal custody given to them by a court over a child. Two terms to remember are temporary management conservatorship and this is short-term conservatorship, permanent managing conservatorship is long-term conservatorship. DPS uh DFPS may place children in several different settings. We have settings such as with relatives. They can also be in foster care homes. Uh sometimes they'll be in treatment
012or uh facilities or in emergency shelters uh facilities that are overseen by other state agencies, adoptive families and uh supportive individual living which is also SEL arrangements. Our students in foster care do have a will of support. uh in this well you have families, you have school personnel, you do have sports, uh courts, we also have child attorneys, uh caregivers. The important thing here is that there are a lot of adults that are working to ensure that our students in foster care are properly taken care of and watch after. The what what I have found in my career is the relationships between these adult figures is pivotal in the success of the child. We have to work together as adults to build deep meaningful working relationships so that we can ensure that the child has
013a great environment and they're successful at home and in school. Some considerations when you're working with students in foster care. Foster care students can learn can lose four to six months of emotional academic growth uh emotional academic growth and educational proh progress. Students in foster care um may lose course credits uh by going from school to school and just from life uh living conditions in general. They also can see grades drop uh loss in grade levels and also loss of uh participation in extracurricular activities. These students are highly resilient and adaptable. And also remember educators have a significant opportunity to play an impactful role in our students lives. Schools are often seen by foster care students as the permanent place in their life. It is consistent. They look at school personnel as caring adults that
014are there for them and they will stay there for them. So, we will take a moment to reflect and process. If you have any questions, you can place them in chat. And Kelly, do you have anything you want to add about uh foster care students? Um, I just wanted to add that our students are incredibly resilient and adaptable and our students have come into the system at no fault of their own. And so it is important to know that these students have been removed from their families and put in the state's custody. And when we are in the school setting, we are one of many adults and systems that are paid to be in that student's life. Um, and there's volunteers as well through CASA and many that are paid through the various systems that
015are involved. And so in the school day, we have the opportunity to collaborate and coordinate with many different people that are involved in the student's life. And a unique aspect of students serving students in foster care is interacting with DFPS. It is being aware of the CASA. It is interacting with the foster family or the kinship family. Um potentially the attorney um the judge. There are a lot of adults that are involved and in the student's life that you may interact with in the school setting. Um we also know that our students are highly mobile and with that mobility become becomes losses. um in in their learning gaps, uh loss of friends and certain challenges, right? And then there's incredible strengths as I mentioned. And so we want to lean on that, lean into that.
016We want to build that. We want to see kids and their strengths. We want to speak to those strengths and call it out in our support to them. You may be the only person that is speaking to some of the specific strengths. and you as an educator, you get to represent education and leadership from that viewpoint where students may hear and listen to you differently. Um, and so I just want to say how important your role is, right? Students remember how they feel around us and what we what we give to them and what we and the environment that we create. And so just um know that you're going to be working with a lot of folks. The law requires it and it's absolutely essential. Um, and what you do as an educator and a
017leader, whether that child is with you for a couple weeks, a few months, or a few years, uh, it matters. Much of the content in this overview is in chapter 4, which is our ESSA, which is our DFPS overview. And so, just I was noting some of that in the chat. If you want to understand more of the DFPS system, how a kid comes into care, what does that look like, who's involved, what are the timelines, what are the different types of abuses and neglect, that can all be found in chapter 4. And then some just highlevel things that educators need to know. This is on page uh 12 and 13 of the guide. This is a great handout that you can share in training. So just want to make sure everybody has that foster
018care guide in front of them and I'm going to be and we're going to be dropping in the chat where you can reference and then taking you back to that. We're going to be going fast and furious, but you're going to have the information that you can then go back to, read over and get more acquainted with. Um so again, thank you for being here of everything that you have going. you were here to get trained on this. We value you. We thank you for what you do. And um yeah, let's keep going. >> Thanks, Kelly. >> And now Kelly's going to talk to us about our PE's guidance. >> Okay. Thanks so much, John. So it is a requirement that we identify students in DFPS managing conservatorship or foster care is the common you
019know term in PS and so this has been a requirement actually in our state since 2013 and became federal law requirement in 2016. And so we're going to be in this section going over how do you identify a student in foster care? What is that? But before we get into the specifics, I wanted to call out how we identify kids in care and the numbers that we know. So what you see on the left in the orange, this is school reported data. So this is at the school level children that are getting um identified and reported in PES. And we can see from 2024 there was 16,356 students identified. The number in blue is the actual number of kids as provided by DFPS. And so in 2024 it was 25,000 971. So when we're looking
020at this chart we can see that wow in education in the schools we're identifying some kids but not all kids. And so want to make sure that we understand the primary importance of identification because identification is not just identification for identification's sake. Identification is so that we can most effectively serve kids and all the laws and all the requirements and everything that we are supposed to do that we do and we carry out. Um so this issue in the the challenge of identification has been an ongoing challenge it remains and just want to note that it's important that we are identifying students. We are working with DFPS setting up the systems and the processes um one with our partners in that other system DFPS as well as internally in the school when that paperwork is
021brought in um communication between those front office staff the registar the foster care liaison and um yeah it's important on the right we're looking at some highle data related to school moves. So what you can see with green, green is all students. As we can see, 95.7% of all students attend one school. The blue in this chart is foster care students. And we can see that 64.8% in the 2324 school year attended one school. And as you see that chart, we see two schools. 4% of all students statewide, 22% 22.8% of students in foster care ascended two schools. three schools.3 less than one where students in foster care 8.4% attended four plus schools all students state all students 303 okay less than 1% where students in foster care at 4%. So this just speaks to
022that mobility which again there's those identification issues why the laws exist is because we know our students are highly mobile and wanted to highlight and share that picture and in the data that we have um to support the discussion we're having today. Okay. Specifically in PES it's code table C 196. So if you could go ahead and drop that in the chat C196 that's where you need to reference C196 your registar your PES clerks your foster care liaison we're talking about C196 thank you Linda thank you Judith thank you Amber placing that in the chat Angela yes C96 okay so that's where the information lives about team's identification specifically there's three modes. One is students in that are in the conservatorship. Two is students who were previously in conservatorship and are eligible for prek. And
023the third is a student from another state's foster care system that's also eligible for prek. So within C196, we have three codes. This information is all found in chapter 7 of the foster care guide. So, please see chapter 7. Chapter 7 is where we talk about identifying students and maintaining confidentiality. So, right now, go ahead on your desktop and go ahead and flip to chapter 7. Page 79 gives an overview of why we need to identify students in foster care. And page 80 gives the information about how we identify students in foster care. And we're going to get that to that in a minute. Pee's coding specifically is on page 81. So here we go. Codes one and two. One is a student who is currently in DFPS managing conservatorship. And like I mentioned, two
024is a student was at one time, even if they were in it when they were a baby for three months, they are eligible for free prek. And so that's what number two is about. So when it comes to prek identification, DFPS has a specific place that you can email to get that letter. So, what is supposed to happen is when we're talking about prek eligibility, there is a letter that is given to the school. If you have a child that is presenting and they don't have that letter, let's say maybe they were in foster care as a child, you can email prekverification letters, which is LTRS at dfpsex.gov to get that letter and verify for PE's purposes. So that's just something we want to make sure that everybody is aware of. For code three, this
025unique scenario when students were in another state's foster care system and then that family, let's say, moves to Texas, that child is also eligible for prek, free prek. And in that instance, official paperwork from another state or county, foster care documents such as a closed case, redacted court orders, adoption paperwork. Those are all things that may be brought in as evidence and any of that is acceptable for code three for PE's purposes. Now, we're going to get into code one because that's like how do I identify a student in foster care, not for prek, but just general purposes. We will get to that in a moment. Go ahead and go to the next slide. Okay. So, something to clarify is when we use the term foster care, we use it broadly and this means students
026that are in DFPS managing conservatorship, but foster care is actually a placement, a form of a placement. It's a foster home. So, it's important to know that a child may be with a kinship provider. They may be with a relative. Um, they may be in some type of res residential or group setting. um they may actually be in a return to monitor situation with their biological family and these for for PE's purposes are all considered foster care and they are all what is most important and John me referenced is they're in the managing conservatorship of DFPS and that's what we're looking for a kid that's in the managing conservatorship of DFPS now something that comes into play that can be confusing is when students are unaccompanied refugee minors and they are in what is sometimes
027referenced as federal foster care. Now, in this situation, the student is not in foster care for PE's purposes. I know it's confusing. Um, but it's because they are actually in the federal government's care and custody and not in the state of Texas. So, although that student is mobile, although that student is eligible for foster care benefits, um, such as the education and training voucher, ETV, that student's going to be eligible for nutrition benefits because they meet those standards of federal foster care. For PE's purposes, which is specifically about kids in Texas DFPS, they will not be coded. although they are access they can access the the nutrition benefits they are in in in a unaccompanied refugee minor they get there's federal resources and benefits there's just not state foster care so just wanted to clarify
028that um there is information about this in chapter 4 of the foster care guide where we go over a few scenarios where a student is like involved with DFPS but not in managing conservatorship. And I know that that is confusing on the school side. DFP DFPS can present paperwork. Another foster care agency placing agency in the state of Texas can present paperwork, but they're not in managing conservatorship. And so there's that distinction. Um, and it's page 52 for more information on this topic. And just something again when you're thinking about identification and you want to get it right and there's some of the nuances wanted to make sure and highlight and call that out for you. Um and again page 52. Okay related to teams coding and getting it right. Well, who is in foster
029care? How do we know who is in foster care? What does that look like? What will they share with us at the school so that we know they're in foster care? Anybody who knows the answer to that question, go ahead and drop it in the chat. Would love to see what you think, what it is. What is it that you know the 2085? Love it. Yes, 2085. You must have a 2085. That is absolutely correct. 2085. And this is on page 80 in your guide. It's also on this PEM supplemental resource that you can get the QR code and reference court order. Kenisha, you're absolutely right. A court order as well. Yes. So, the 2085 is a form. It's a form that comes in a in a couple different um modes. There is the placement
030authorization. This is actually what's given to that foster family to say the child is authorized to be with me. DFPS gives that placement authorization 2085. So there's a there can be a bunch of names you might see on that form, but you see 2085, you know this kid's in managing conservatorship. Another version of the 2085 that you might see is the education decisionmaker form 2085. Not only are kids in foster care required to have a placement authorization, they're required to have an education decision maker. So this is somebody it might be the foster parent or it might be somebody else could be the CASA that is who you work with related to education decisions and so that E2085 and it is a requirement that all schools get the E285 on file education decision maker DFPS
031and their caregivers and they have a few days to provide it but you must have that on file and then yes the court order I saw that in the chat absolutely a redacted court order at At the end of the day, that court order is sufficient and official documentation that that student is in DFPS managing conservatorship. So those three forms are all acceptable documentation. And what you have here on the PM supplemental guidance is we actually go over all the forms. So the 2085 series, there's a lot of different names and labels and some of the nuances. This is a great tool for training registars handing out going over working with your DFPS contact to say hey like what are these forms and what do they mean? Um and I also think for training purposes
032it's it's helpful just to have some copies and samples and examples for you to be able to reference and only if they are currently in DFPS. Yes. And every time a child moves that 2085 must be updated. The placement authorization 2085 must be updated. So, it should be current and when a student moves, it should be accurate. Um, and DFPS is uh working to make sure that those are updated and those are accurate and that they are given out um annually because we are not to assume from year to year that that child remains in foster care. And that's what this is about is that a student when they are flagged for foster care, they remain coded through the end of the year, but it does not carry over from year to year. So it
033is not something you carry over. Foster care students are mobile. Foster care is a temporary situation, not a permanent situation. And so we don't expect or assume that it carries over. Although we do for just coding purposes and you know the functionality of the system is that once a kid's identified for that year they remain in coded for that year. Here is a list of the forms that are on that sheet. Different versions of the 2085 and acceptable documentation that we just went over again for quick reference. You can find it on page 80 and 81 of the foster care guide. You can find it here on this PES tool. both are great resources for you. Okay, some examples of things you might see that don't count. We already talked about um letters from other
034child placing agencies. I've hinted at it. Placement authorization form from another child placing agency. An agreement for parental child safety, which is a 2298. An an authorization for a non-parent relative or a voluntary caregiver. um documentation that a student is an unaccompanied refugee minor, court or legal paperwork that doesn't state that DFPS is the managing conservator. So, um these are just, you know, it's nuances of the work. When you see these documents presented, you know, just make sure that you're reviewing and looking for the right things. And then also just remember foster care status is highly confidential and all FURPA guidelines highly sensitive. Make sure that you keep this information stored under lock and key that you're not talking about it where other students or family members are with an ear shot. Um there is
035a lot to maintaining confidentiality. On page 85 of the foster care guide, we have a confidentiality and information sharing within the school communicating need to know information. So please see page 85. Okay, it's like we got to share information, but how do we do it well? Or we don't share information. What does that look like? And so please see that tool for more information on that. Okay, moment of reflection and processing. And I'm seeing some questions in the chat which are excellent. These are excellent uh questions and we will come back to some of this in our Q&A portion at the end. But let me take a quick look. So yeah, your form K9062279, that's not a DFPS form for PE's identification other than preK. If they are formerly DFPS, we don't need to identify
036them. Correct. Yes. Correct. >> Okay, let's keep going and then we can address more of this in the Q&A. All right, we're going to go ahead and do some key reminders um for the foster care space. So on the next slide, the first um information that we would like to share is the foundational requirement under ESSA is that every school system must designate a foster care liaison. This individual serves as a key point of contact helping to coordinate services and ensure that students in foster care receive the educational support they need including timely school enrollment and continuity in their educ in their academic experience. So to assist with this coordination, TA has uh maintains the ask TED or the Texas education directory. It's a real- time publicly accessible database that helps school systems, families, and
037child welfare professionals to quickly identify and reach the appropriate contacts when support is needed. Now, in the audience, uh give me an emoji or um put a yes in the um in the chat if you know who your foster care liaison is on your campus. Let me see. We got lots of yes, that's good news. All right. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. So it is essential that school systems keep their liaison contact information current throughout the school year. So it's not just at the beginning of the school year but if there is a change in your foster care liaison for your campus or your district those need to be updated within Azte database. So, John, if you click on um the next button, districts, if you are a district um staff member, your liaison information is
038updated um to TA through the district's ASTED administrator. Does do you know who your district administrator is? Give me a yes or a thumbs up if you do. Yes. Good. Tracy, yes. Vivian Karina, >> if you don't, yeah, if you don't, it's a good way to start asking who it is because we need that information updated. that's who we that's who the uh public or the stakeholders go to first to be able to locate. If you are a charter school, um there is a link called an all-in-one update form for all things charter school. And one of those areas is updating your ASTED liaison um your Azte um information for your foster care liaison. So maintaining accurate and timely information is in ASTED is not just a procedural requirement. It's a crucial step in ensuring
039that students in foster care are consistently supported across our uh across Texas. So on the next slide to assist you um with how to um navigate through Ask TED, our HMER team has developed a practical resource to support our stakeholders across Texas by providing clear step-by-step instructions on how to access and download liaison contact information directly from Aztec. And this isn't just in the foster care liaison space. This is McKenna Vento. This is administrator. There are multiple roles in which you can uh use ASTED. Um it is a helpful resource. This document includes screenshots, guide guidance, and even a QR code to easy access. And so it's making it very user friendly for anyone who wants to navigate especially during the transitions. And I'll drop the um link to it um after this. On our
040next slide, reminders for our foster care liaison. This is a visual reminder flowchart that outlines the essential responsibilities for foster care liaison. It includes but is not limited to ensuring that your information again is regularly updated in Aztec. Um understanding local policies and procedures for identification and enrollment in terms of foster care um identification enrollment processes. securing proper documentation for PES coding that 2085 form um planning conducting foster care training throughout the year within your district maintaining district level foster care data and then collaborating with the DFPS case workers and caregivers. These reminders are designed to strengthen coordination, improve data accuracy, and ensure that students in foster care receive consistent and timely support. Now, as a quick reminder, um the transition assistant toolkit outlines four required supports for all newly enrolled students in foster care
041or experiencing homelessness. These supports are designed to ease the transitions and strengthen student engagement from day one. So, the first one that you see on the left side is uh nutrition benefits, expedited nutr nutrition benefits. Students must receive access to school meals starting on their first day of enrollment without delay. This requires timely communication with food services and accurate student coding. Your enrollment conference um should be held within the first two weeks of enrollment or as soon as feasible. So, school systems uh local districts and charter schools must convene a student centered conference to identify academic needs, available supports, and opportunities for engagement. You've got your welcome packet. Students to receive a packet with school information, resources, extracurricular opportunities, and also key staff contacts to help them feel informed and connected. And lastly, the warm
042introduction to school. And this can include a a wonderful welcoming experience uh through campus tours, introductions to relevant staff members, peer support to help students acclimate and build relationships. So these steps are not just best practices. They are required actions that help to ensure smoother transitions and meaningful support for our most mobile students. On our next slide, district and campus staff should collaborate with their PES coordinator, school registar, or school counselor to run these reports to prepare for the enrollment conferences. Um, some of the topics that can be covered during the enrollment conference should include, but are not limited to, attendance. Review past attendance records and discuss strategies to support consistent school participation, your grades, credits earned versus attempted. Evaluate the academic progress and identify any gaps or recovery needs. Special student populations. This helps
043to determine if the student is dually identified and may qualify for additional support such as special education, 504, ESL, etc. um at risk indicators, identifying factors that may impact academic success and explore interventions, and lastly, district and campus supports sharing available services, programs, and contacts that can assist the student and the family. Now, we um our next section is our technical assistance section. And my question to you is, do you know who to reach out to when you need support or have questions about foster care students? John, can you go on to the next slide, please? Is everybody seeing the slides? Just want to make sure. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. Check, Kelly. I think we're good. >> Okay. Excellent. And also wanted to reference chapter five of the foster care guide is everything you need
044to know for being a foster care liaison. So the things that Dr. Lei is sharing, you can find in chapter five of the guide. Make sure that you reference chapter 5. >> All right. Thank you, Kelly. Um on the next slide, um just a very high level. If you need support, we're here to help you locally, regionally, and statewide. John, can you go to the next one? Um they will your local foster care liaison is your first point of contact for immediate contact specific guidance. We also have regional um education service center foster care champions who offer specialized expertise and can assist with training resources and best practice at a regional um view. And then the TEA state team provides strategic support and policy guidance to help you navigate program requirements and ensure compliance. So
045whether you're facing a new enrollment, school transition, or data reporting challenges, their support system um in place to help you. And I'll be able to drop uh some links for you in a minute on how to locate your foster care uh champion. We have a resource for that. Um and then on the next slide lastly on the point of contact uh we do uh want to make you aware that there are also DFPS education specialists assigned for each region. Um they are designated uh specialists who serve as a li liaison between child welfare and school systems. Um education specialists at the DFPS u assist with best interest decisions, transportations, dispute resolution and cross-system coordination. But please be mindful that DFPS and ESC service region boundaries do differ. So that's where you see the two different
046state icons. The one in the orange are the DFPS regions. There's 11 U DFPS region. 12 is the state point of contact. And then um the right one is our ESC regions all the way to 20. So, it is um it is good to reference when you are reaching out to the DFPS uh education specialist that you know which region um that you need to contact and we'll drop that um that contact list for you um in the chat in a bit. All right. Um at this time, I'm going to hand it back over to Mr. Dobbins to go over the resources. >> Thank you, Ann. Uh yes, we have several resources for you. uh many of them we we've uh referred to during today's presentation. Uh and also since I've been working with the
047team uh they're resources that I wish I had as a school principal had really uh taken the time to to read, get to know and utilize them. One of the first resources we have is our foster care and student success website. Uh this website has been uh recently redone. It's extremely userfriendly. Uh everything you need is at your fingertips. Uh and it the the web page flows and has access to a wide variety of resources for you. Our next resource, and Kelly's been referring to this and dropping it in the chat, is our foster care and student success guide. This success guide has everything you need uh to help you uh properly support our foster care students and the students in your care. Uh it does have um it does dual function as an in
048eguide and it's also can be used as a training manual. It's incredibly comprehensive. Uh it does go from researchbased topics uh legal context and best practices. It has many tools and tips for you to utilize. It does have direct access to resources and it does support collaboration between the adults that are in our foster care students lives. Another tool we have is the school of origin determination. As we all know that school of origin, if our foster care students can stay at their school of origin during the probably the biggest transition of their life, which is going from their home with their family to foster care. It's critical if we can keep our students in their school of origin. That is what's best for our students. Uh this guide does help you understand school of
049origin. It does explain the students rights. It does have a best interest determination to help us make the decision. It does has key factors to consider and it does express that we do want to make a prompt decision. It has real life scenarios for you to follow and also it does have access to additional resources. And with foster care uh students, as uh I mentioned earlier in our presentation, there are many adults that are involved in our foster care students lives. Uh often, most times uh we work together uh seamlessly to ensure our students are properly cared for, but sometimes we do have uh in I'm I'm sorry, I was hopping ahead of slide. This um we we do want to make sure we do have our point of contact. So we have designated point
050of contact for our students in foster care. Uh this tool does help you understand the requirements for the designated point of contact. It does uh know the key roles of the DFPS education specialist and also the school system foster care leaison. Uh it does have a timeline for our annual notification. When should contact be made? what what information should be going between DFS and the school system foster care leaison and when should that happen uh it does describe again an had mentioned earlier it's very critical to have Aztec updated with the point of contact and it also does talk about prompt p uh prompt and timely ordination of supports the next tool I was uh >> want to go ahead and add in here really quickly about the point of contact. So, and everything that
051John is talking about right now is required by ESSA. So, this is can be found in chapter 8 of the foster care guide in addition to the tools. With the point of contact, you as the foster care liaison are your district's point of contact. The education specialist for DFPS is DFPS's education point of contact. ESSA requires collaboration between points of contact and it also requires notification. And so what's on that tool is it's letting you know when DFPS reaches out to tell you who their education specialist is, it's then a requirement for you to formally communicate back to DFPS who your point of contact is, which is the foster care liaison um for your district. And so that's when John referenced some of the timelines. Those are some of the things that are required to
052happen per ESSA. And the idea is that you know who your points of contact are before you ever have a student in foster care. So then when things come up in the year as they may, then you know who to call and you know who to reach out to. And there's already some collaboration, goodwill between different agencies and organizations who are committed to supporting this student already in place. And so it's the beginning of the year, August, school leaders should have already received a communication from DFPS. If you haven't, it's okay, but you want to reach out. They should be reaching out, but if they don't, you can reach out to them and let them know who the point of contact is, you as a foster care leaison, and that you're that point person for
053any foster care related matters. you know, on behalf of your district. Thank you, John. >> Thank you, Kelly. And thanks for expressing again the importance of building that uh collaborative relationship between the schools and uh the individuals outside the schools that are working to ensure the student is properly cared for and we do have the best interest uh decision- making and coordination. Uh this tool does uh again support collaboration between uh education and child welfare partners. Uh when would you use this? Well, this is very useful for emergency placements uh initial foster care entry uh psychiatric admission and juvenile detention. We also use this uh during planned school withdrawals. Not just emergency, we do have planned school withdrawals to help guide us through uh making the best decisions for our students uh and their proper
054placement. We also helps us understand who initiates the contact when contact happens and require documentation needed. Uh the purpose of this is to reduce trauma, ensure continuity and support best academic outcomes for our students in foster care. And I will say that a requirement of ESSA is that DFPS and schools collaborate around what is in the best interests of the child. And so like ultimately DFPS will be the final decision maker when it comes to it. But the goal of ESSA is that there's coordination and collaboration. Um and there is document documents and paperwork that we have available on our website. uh resources that can help with that decision making and education decision making a process that you can go through in the school when a school move is being considered that you then go
055through that and provide information to DFPS to support you know the decision-m process what might be going on with the court and decisions in the background that we at the school level don't aren't aware of but the idea is that we're collaborating and that we're providing information to be helpful and supportive and working together around that and mitigating any and all barriers that we can. And so once you identify points of contact, you know, how are we going to work together around education decisionmaking is a good conversation to have. How are we going to work together around transportation? How are we going to work together around school of origin? And as John mentioned, this tool maps out, and I love it because it's colorcoded, what's DFPS's role and what's the school's role and who's doing
056what and it maps it out. Um, and then on our website, we have some additional tools that can be used on a case- by case basis to support, you know, the actual questions and the decisions. And because in the school, you have a lot of good information that is helpful for decision- making around that student in foster care. And the whole goal of ESSA is that we're working together and providing that and keeping that student at the center. >> Thanks, John. >> Yeah, thanks, Kelly. One thing I really like about the tool is there's a focus on the smooth uh the smooth transition. You know, we we as I stated early, it's best for a student to stay in their school of origin. The focus of this document is sometimes that's not going to happen
057and we do need to work together to ensure that the transition is smooth uh and as a positive experience for our students possible. Uh the next tool I started talking about earlier, sorry, the dispute resolution. We do not want disputes but uh and we most of the time work work together very effectively but sometimes there are disputes and we do have the dispute resolution uh tool for you and this will help guide you through the resol dispute resolution process. Uh the important thing to remember on this tool is that it wants to we want to ensure fair and timely resolutions for our students. uh it does explain the the roles and it also describes for transition and also school placement. >> Something I'd like to add here is that when it comes to student and
058foster care and whenever we have things that end up coming to the state, it's like things have gone too long. Like I can remember a few years back there was a transportation arrangement where the school was supposed to be, you know, transporting a student, you know, under certain terms. Um, but it was supposed to be temporary and then we're eight months in and the school's like this is really really costly and this is hard and what are what is our what are we supposed to do? And so the challenges that we see are things that lingered too long and the whole point of the dispute resolution process is that things get would get reconciled quickly. Um, and that you and the school side just know you can work and reach out to that DFPS education
059specialist and you can issue an alert them. There might be something happening at the caseworker level or the foster parent level and you want to loop in that education specialist right away. You don't want to wait too long. They play a role in consulting, supporting, coaching, guiding, and it's okay to elevate something. If there's a concern or a flag um quickly and that way things get resolved and you're not in a situation where you think, "Oh man, I I this has just been undone for a while and it's just lingering." The whole point of this and with ESSA that we have a dispute process is that we could escalate things and ultimately it escalates up to the state, but the quicker you get that going at the local level, it helps with getting issues resolved
060and and that's what we want. >> Thanks, Kelly. And then also I really like this tool uh because if you do get to the point to where we do have a dispute between us, uh each party of the dispute can reach towards to this tool. Uh this is exactly what we do. This is what we do at level one. This is what we did at level two. Uh and it will help us make the fastest decision and the best decision possible for the student. And we do have a moment. Uh we're almost right on track on time. Uh Ann, do we have anything in the chat or is it stuff that we're going to say for the question and answer? >> It's been relatively quiet. I think we can move on and so we can
061have some uh time for our state office hours. >> Great. Uh so we have some announcements for you. Save the date. We are having a combined foster care and education webinars and our state office hours. We're finding this is very effective for attendees uh because we have it backtoback. It's not two different times. Uh we do have today's meeting and we'll have our foster care hours immediately after our meeting. And we do also have a spring webinar coming up on March 6. A reminder, our 202025 foster care and education summit has been postponed to 2000 and to the fall of 2026. We want to make sure we take the time to give the best experience possible and get you uh the best information at our conference. We do also have our highly mobile at risk
062HMAR program um our our foster care and at risk calendar and Ann is going to drop that in the chat so that you can access that. This has our complete uh calendar for the year. also uh how to subscribe. Uh if you want our latest news, uh please subscribe so that you can receive our correspondence uh through our tea uh news. And we have a a link to that