This event is the second of a new monthly web conference series on child and family policy-CHARTING A COURSE-moderated by Martha Shirk, co-author of On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System, and a former reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mental health problems and learning disabilities are common among school-age children in out-of-home care. Although considerable attention has been paid to the overall educational needs of children in the child welfare system, relatively little has addressed the prevalence of special education needs among these children and the impact of special education needs on their educational trajectories. Controversy exists over whether children in care are over or under-identified with respect to special education needs.

Recent research conducted by Chapin Hall revealed that the proportion of children in care who are classified emotionally disabled may be increasing. These children experience discouraging short and long-term outcomes including continued discipline problems, hospitalization, and juvenile detention, as well as high rates of school dropout. Many have not received adequate assessment for their mental health needs and others find their services disrupted by frequent changes in schools. Responsibility for ensuring that foster children are receiving and benefiting from services required in their individual educational plans often remains ambiguous.

This web seminar will examine the research on special education needs of children in out-of-home care and will discuss what this research suggests about the direction of state policy efforts to meet these needs more effectively. It will focus on three arenas of state efforts:

• Improving access to and quality of mental health assessments


• Establishing accountability for meeting the special education needs of children in the child welfare system


• Increasing the school stability for children with special education needs

Panelists:

• Cheryl Smithgall, Senior Researcher, Chapin Hall Center for Children


• Bernadette Pinchback, Manager of Foster Youth Services, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools/East Valley SELPA


• Gene Griffin, Management Team Coordinator, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

This web seminar is made possible by the generosity of the Col. Stanley R. McNeil Foundation.