Education as a Lifeline: The Role of Schools for Youth in Foster Care
By Molly Fagan, Child Focus Trustee
The start of school or college this month can mean different things for different groups. For children and young adults in foster care, and even those who recently transitioned out of the system, school is often a lifeline.
As a social worker who has worked with youth in the foster care system, a college instructor who has taught youth who aged out, and a board member of Child Focus, I’ve had the privilege of watching the countless ways that strong, supportive educational systems can enhance the lives of children in foster care.
It won’t surprise friends of Child Focus to learn the sobering statistics for youth in foster care: Only about half of foster care-involved youth graduate from high school and less than 5 percent graduate from college. Youth who can overcome such challenges as trauma and frequent placement changes to complete high school or college have dramatically better outcomes in terms of job and income stability.
What strikes me as equally valuable are the “soft” benefits that school or college can bring: predictability, community, positive recognition, and healthy adult role models. These are all non-tangibles that boost a child’s resilience and capacity for healthy relationships.
The routine that comes with formal schooling can bring a reassuring structure to an abused or neglected child’s otherwise unpredictable and chaotic environment. Knowing that the bus comes the same time each day and the same teacher awaits them in the classroom can help nurture a child’s sense of safety and security. Daily school routines matter deeply when so much else is uncertain or even scary.
Children who’ve experienced abuse or neglect often carry a sense of shame that can be isolating. A strong school community can provide youth in foster care with a space to be "just kids” rather than being defined by their status in care. In school, each child can explore their talents, humor, and personality in ways that help them see themselves as unique and worthy individuals.
The sense of community that builds from daily interactions with peers, teachers, and school staff — feeling known, supported, and included — can be transformative for young people who have experienced rejection or abandonment.
Like a CASA volunteer, teachers and school staff can become immensely important figures in a child’s life, sometimes becoming their most nurturing relationships. A teacher who remembers a student’s interests, celebrates their achievements, or simply checks in during difficult times makes an enormous difference.
Children in foster care who continue on to college can not only learn valuable skills, they also can contribute to classroom learning by sharing their unique perspectives. No classroom lecture comes close to the engagement that occurs when an aged-out youth shares their story to a group of social work students.
So, what can we do as people who care about youth in the foster care system? We can advocate for policies that emphasize school attendance and consistency, encourage the educators and schools in our lives to implement trauma-informed teaching approaches, and cheer for the youth who, despite the obstacles, stay in school.
Child Focus Board Member Molly Fagan is a licensed clinical social worker and Assistant Professor of Social Work and Director of Field Education for Saint Elizabeth University in Morristown. The former CASA volunteer previously served as an administrator for nonprofit agencies that provide mental health counseling and other services for children who have been neglected and abused, and those who have aged out of foster care.