Foster Care
Presented by the Virginia Department of Social Services and the Virginia Department of Education. For additional information on this topic, visit the Enrollment of Students in Foster Care page on the Virginia Department of Education website.
Foster Care Points of Contact
- Foster Care Liaisons (LEA) [xlsx] revised November 2023
- Educational Stability Liaisons (DSS) [xlsx] revised October 2022
Annual Regional Trainings - Foster Care - these "Educational Stability for Children & Youth in Foster Care" trainings are free and open to all school staff, LDSS, LCPAs, and anyone interested in supporting students in foster care. Liaisons - feel free to invite your supervisors, school counselors, school social workers, and anyone who works with foster care (administrative assistants, case managers, or your back ups), as well as local or community partners)
Our virtual trainings are split into two parts, and our in-person trainings cover the content in both parts. Part 1 topics include: legislative background – Fostering Connections, ESSA, and the Code of Virginia & when these laws apply; Virginia’s educational stability process for students in general education from placement to school enrollment; and residential placements and requirements for a BID (changes to Virginia joint guidance referenced in Supts Memo 152-22). Part 2 topics include: brief overview of Virginia’s educational stability process with a focus on special education and complex cases; residential placements and requirements for a BID (changes to Virginia joint guidance referenced in Supts Memo 152-22); Fostering Futures (Virginia’s voluntary extension of foster care); and resolving school placement disputes.
Guidance & Forms
- US Department of Education - Health & Human Services Non-Regulatory Guidance [pdf]
- The following forms are available through the Virginia Department of Education or by contacting us:
- Virginia Department of Social Services - Virginia Department of Education Joint Guidance
- FC/ESSA Form A-17, Notice of Student Receiving Foster Care Services and Request for Best Interest Determination Participation Form
- FC/ESSA Form B-17, Best Interest Determination for Foster Care School Placement Form
- FC/ESSA Form C-17, Immediate Enrollment of Student in Foster Care Form [Word]
- FC/ESSA Form D-17, Best Interest Determination Process Educational Input from Residential Treatment Centers Form
- Virginia Department of Social Services - Virginia Department of Education Joint Guidance
- Superintendent's Memo 152-22 [pdf] Updated Guidance on the Best Interest Determination (BID) Process of School Placement of Students in Foster Care Leaving a Residential Placement
- Superintendent’s Memo #324-17 [doc] Educational Stability for Students in Foster Care, Updated Virginia Joint Guidance to Align With the Every Student Succeeds Act and the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 with link to [doc] Joint Guidance
Contact us for more information on currently available training opportunities.
Federal Legislation- Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act HR 6893 (P.L. 110-351) September 22, 2008. This act will help hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption and improving education and health care.
- Foster Care References in the Every Student Succeeds Act
- North Carolina - listing is at the bottom of page under "Contact the North Carolina Foster Care Program"
