Introduction
The child welfare system provides a lot of services to ensure that children are safe and their families have the necessary support to care for them effectively. This will be focusing on foster care and the unmet educational needs.
There are nearly 2,5000 children in foster care in Washington, D.C. Children in foster care have suffered trauma before and after they were placed in foster care but of all the difficulties foster children experience, low academic achievement may be the most serious consequence for their future.
This video explains the gap between foster care and education.
https://co4kids.org/blog/telling-story-changing-education-students-foster-care
"Caseworkers are primarily concerned with safety issues, foster parents tend to be more troubled with children's behavior than their grades, and the advocates may not understand the importance of education or how to navigate the system" (pg.6)
https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Child-Welfare-03-19-19.pdf
"Foster children and youth are more likely to repeat a grade, do worse on standardized tests, or drop out of school. Most foster children and youth change schools far often as they change foster care placements, and school changes hinder academic achievement."
https://nacac.org/advocate/nacacs-positions/educational-needs/
"Even when these children are placed in economically deprived urban schools where student performance is already below average, they still tend to rank lower than their peers. Studies comparing foster children with non-foster children show that they are more likely to have behavioral and discipline problems, more likely to experience gaps in their education because of school transfers, more likely to be in special education, more inclined to gravitate toward vocational classes, and less likely to be on a college preparatory track."
https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/School_success.pdf
The program that I want to fund will fill in the gap between foster care and academic achievements. The program will provide tutors and mentors to foster care children. We will give them the educations that they need to better themselves for adulthood. Our mission is to achieve better education for those children in foster care and place them on a greater path to adulthood.
Task
ISeeYou will be giving children in foster care an opportunity to improve their education. We understand that children who are in the foster care system are moving from one place to another. Our program will be a volunteer-based program. This program will be non-profit once we get ourselves off the ground. Once we start we plan to fundraise and get donations from our community.
Annual Budget:
- Donations from individuals: $3,000
- Foundations & Corporations: $10,000
- Partnerships with other organizations and schools: $7,000
- Grant: $10,000
- $30,000
Administrative Expenses:
- Fundraising efforts and office supplies $5,000
- Washington, DC office space rent $46 per square foot
- Total Space 4,562 square feet (#260)
- $209,852 per year
- $17,488 per month
- Total Space 4,562 square feet (#260)
https://www.commercialsearch.com/commercial-property/us/dc/washington/maritime-plaza-i/
For this program to work we will need an office space where we can host tutoring and other activities for the foster children. Office space in Washington, DC will cost $17,488 per month
This program will need a facility. $239,852 per year
In order for my plan to work will need volunteers who are willing to help foster children with their school work. Help them get a better understanding of the concepts in their classes. We will be open to every child who is in foster care.
This plan will be a non-profit volunteer-based program which means that every individual will have to go through a background check before interacting with the children. We will need money to pay for these background checks.
Process
Dear Mayor Muriel Bowser,
Students in foster care are more likely than their peers to struggle academically and to drop out of school before graduation.
ISeeYou could be a program that will provide tutoring and mentors to children who are in foster care. ISeeYou is a nonprofit tutoring and mentoring program that empowers children in foster care to build a better future for themselves. The program will help children with their academics where their schools fall short on. ISeeYou mission is to improve the academics of students in Southeast Washington D.C. Our goal is to help children in foster care improve their academics and make a better future for themselves. We believe that education is the most important thing for a child to have. In order for this program to work, we are asking that you provide us with a one-time grant of 10,000 dollars.
The grant will be used for supplies and equipment to make it easier for the children to learn. It will also be used to pay for a facility for the tutoring and other activities such as celebrations for the children improvements. We will meet with the children ever weekday or at least 3 times a week. During our meeting with the children we will provide intitives for them showing up such as food or snacks. The money will also be used to pay for transportation from school to the facility to their temporary homes.
As for the staff they will be volunteers from the community and we will need money to do a thoral background check on each individual that comes into contact with the students. Each volunteer will also go though a train that ISeeYou will deliver. We will find volunteers from the community who are welling to tutor children who are in foster care.
Having the money will improve the lives of so many children in foster care. Their academics fall short because the child welfare system mostly only cares about the safety and protection of these children. Children in foster care are constantly moving so there is no stable school or home for them.
I hope that I have proven to you that this program could work in the favor of all the youth who are in foster care and need serious help with their academics.
Evaluation
American Bar Association developed a new policy to improve the education of youth in foster care. They developed the "Blueprint for Change: Education Sucess for Children in Foster Care, which was written in 2007.
http://www.fostercareandeducation.org/AreasofFocus/BlueprintforChange.aspx
The Every Student Succeeds Act/Educational Stability Act was signed in 2015 to "promote educational stability for children in foster care so they can continue their education without disruption, maintain important relationships, and have the opportunity to achieve college and career readiness."
These policies and laws are in place because they see the lack of academic achievement that youth in foster care are facing.
Conclusion
We can help the youth improve their academics just by being there for them when they are going through difficulties especially if they are switching schools often and others are focusing more on their bad behavior more than their education. Education is important for children in foster care.
A Movement Toward Trauma-Informed Schools (pg 5-7)
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1148240.pdf
"The Role of Education in Shaping Youth's National Identity"
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81145809.pdf
"Youth Education and ita Role n Achieving Sustainable Development"