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Pennsylvania State Education Agency Foster Care Point of Contact

Matthew Butensky
Center for Schools and Communities, 275 Grandview Avenue, Camp Hill, PA 17011

717-763-1661, ext. 171

570-238-0258 cell

[email protected]

Build Community and Raise Awareness throughout the Year

Honoring and recognizing the education needs of children and youth in foster care is an important part of advancing their opportunities. Take steps every day to promote access to education for students with foster care experience.

Take Action to Ensure Equity

  • 1
    Organize a supply drive within your school community to collect comfort items, essentials, and school supplies for a child’s first night in care. Coordinate your donations with your local Education Liaison.
  • 2
    Be intentional about checking in with students experiencing foster care. Ensure they are on track throughout the school year and have resources they need. Download our guide for helpful ideas.
  • 3
    Ensure that students in foster care placement and eligible for Act 1 have been properly identified and receive the benefits they are entitled to.
  • 4
    Identify a secondary school Point of Contact for students, foster parents, and child welfare agencies to ensure support and access during out-of-school time.
  • 5
    Identify and connect students in foster care placement to programs and services available during out-of-school time. Make necessary referrals to ensure adequate support.
  • 6

    Register or view one of our upcoming or past webinars. Encourage colleagues and community members to join, as well.

Key Foster Care Facts

Community. Resilience. Collaboration. Opportunity. Belonging. School Stability. Being Understood. Access. PA Poster Care dot org
An estimated 30% of youth in foster care identify as LGBTQ+. PA Foster Care dot org
In Pennsylvania, 44% of children and youth in foster care are placed with a relative. PA Foster Care dot org
Approximately 20,000 youth age out of foster care annually without a permanent family. PA Foster Care dot org
An estimated 77% of eligible youth in foster care leave care without receiving the federally funded services available to them. PA Foster care dot org
There are more than 390,000 children and youth in foster care in the U.S. PA Foster Care dot org

How has your organization taken action?

We’d love to hear from you! Please email us at [email protected].

Working Together to Ensure Educational Stability

In December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Protections for students in foster care found under ESEA, as amended by ESSA, aim to enhance collaboration and align both education and child welfare systems to improve educational outcomes. For the first time, ESSA embeds federal education law provisions that promote school stability and success for children and youth in foster care.

Frequent school changes are common among children in youth who are entering foster care placement or who have been in foster care placement. School changes are disruptive to their education and makes it difficult to develop supportive relationships with teachers, peers, and within their communities. Unplanned school changes may be associated with delays in children’s academic progress, leaving highly mobile students more likely to fall behind their less mobile peers.

ESSA amends the ESEA to include educational stability for children and youth in foster care exclusively under Title I, Part A. Title I educational stability provisions for students in foster care were required to be implemented within one year of the federal law’s passage on Dec. 10, 2016.

Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and Center for Schools and Communities are working together to promote school stability and success for children and youth in foster care.