Foster parents would get say in kids’ education

A bill that would allow foster parents to make decisions about their foster children’s special education is making its way through the General Assembly.

Last week, the House passed HB 2537, which is sponsored by Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville. The bill lets foster parents step in and make educational decisions when a foster child’s biological or adoptive parents aren’t able or willing to take part.

Federal law dictates which children are eligible for disability services. Local schools develop an Individualized Education Plan, which describes the educational game plan for a child, with parental consent and meet with parents occasionally to make changes or review the plan.

When a child in special education is in foster care temporarily, it can make changing the IEP difficult, said Angela A. Ciolfi, a staff attorney for the JustChildren Program. The program, which is based out of the Legal Aid Justice Center offices, focuses on foster care, public education and juvenile justice in Virginia.

“I’ve heard of gaps between four and eight months while the locality tries to engage the parent who doesn’t want to be engaged,” Ciolfi said. “Federal law was changed in 2006 to make it easier for foster parents to get involved, but Virginia law still contains those barriers.”

About 7,000 children in Virginia are in foster care. Schools that can’t get a biological parent’s signature often have to turn to a surrogate assigned to the case. Proponents of the bill say that the surrogate doesn’t know the child or the child’s needs as well as a foster parent, who is with the child every day.

Jay Chowdhry, an in-home counselor with Family Prevention Services, said the current law is so vague that he has seen IEPs with improper parental signatures or none at all. Chowdhry, whose agency does foster care prevention work in the Charlottesville area, said he typically asks foster parents to come to IEP meetings anyway so they can understand what’s going on with their foster child’s education.

Ciolfi said the bill is almost identical to the federal regulations. Under the bill, the school must write the biological parents at their last known address to let them know that a foster parent has stepped in to make decisions about the child’s special education until a biological parent takes over that role. The bill does not eliminate the rights of a biological parent to be involved in a child’s education.

“The most important thing is to make sure that every child in foster care has an advocate who knows them and cares about them and helps make decisions about their futures,” Ciolfi said. “We hope this bill will make that easier.”

The bill has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on Education and Health.

Second foster care bill

Toscano is sponsoring another foster care bill that would move children out of foster care and into permanent homes more quickly. HB 2159 would make several amendments to state statutes governing adoption. For example, the bill would allow the court to grant a petition for adoption without the biological parent’s consent if one doesn’t show up at the consent hearing.

Toscano said there are “a whole host of challenges” when it comes to adoption in the commonwealth.

“Part of it is that there are insufficient resources to do the training and part of it has to do with provisions in the law that make it difficult,” Toscano said. “We have a two-step process for terminating parental rights. When you can’t terminate the parental rights, it’s hard to get them placed in adoptive homes.”

That bill passed in the House on Tuesday and was referred to the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services on Wednesday.