• Encourage and help the child to be involved in extra-curricular activities. Research shows that involvement in extra-curricular activities is strongly correlated with school engagement and school success. Ensure that the child can participate fully, even if enrolling mid-term or mid-season.

“I always loved music”

Transcript

“I was in band and I signed up myself 'cause I always loved music and I played a wide range of instruments, mostly woodwind. And I was also in German Club because I didn’t want to go home to my foster home.”

Foster parents and other out-of-home care providers can sign for children in their care to participate in extra-curricular activities sponsored by the school.

• Review your curriculum and resources and broaden the diversity of families depicted in the books and materials in your classroom to include foster families, adoptive families and children living with relatives.
  
• Be mindful of the impact that certain assignments and activities will have on children in out-of-home care. For example, constructing a family tree, writing an autobiography or family biography, writing about a family vacation or bringing baby pictures to class can be problematic or impossible for a child in care. Always have an alternative assignment available – one that a child in care could complete successfully – that is offered to all students in class, so that the student in out-of-home care is not singled out.
  
• Ensure that students in out-of-home care receive school nutrition and meal programs without further application. Children in out-of-home care are categorically eligible for USDA nutrition programs.
  
• Collaborate with county agencies to develop the educational plans for children in out-of-home care that are presented to and monitored by the court.
  
• Promote the appointment of a person in your school or district to act as a liaison regarding students in out-of-home care. Many of the recommendations for improving the academic success of students in out-of-home care made here and in other modules – communication, timely records transfers, appropriate classroom placement, developing an education stability plan, assisting with credit transfers, etc. – could be accomplished or facilitated efficiently by a person in the liaison role.