Advocating for Educational Services for Your CASA Child

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At SFCASA, we stress three areas of advocacy for the children whom we serve. The first and most important is for a safe and permanent home. The second is for regular health examinations and treatment, including dental and mental healthcare. The third is for appropriate educational services. As an SFCASA volunteer, you will be asked to learn all that you can about your child's school placement and performance.

Advocating for educational service

But before starting your advocacy for educational services, talk with the child's Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare Worker, the child's attorney, and any other social worker who may be involved in the case, such as the Foster Family Agency (FFA) social worker, to find out how much they know about your child's academic status. You may discover that one of them is already very involved with the school and can continue to play the role of advocate in that arena. In such a situation, you can then play a supportive role, keeping informed and getting copies of educational evaluations and report cards through the other person involved in the case, rather than going to the school directly for the records. You can be the child's friend and mentor, free from the burden of trying to keep him on track at school.

If no one else on the case is in regular contact with the school about your child's performance, you will have to make an appointment to meet with his teacher and/or counselor. In most cases, you will be able to establish a cordial and trusting relationship with the minor and his/her caregivers before you approach the school. Let them know that you intend to get in touch with the school to make sure that the child is receiving all needed services.

Some families become defensive and resentful of intrusion; others are grateful for the help. Use all your tact to maintain trust with both the child and the caregivers. Be sensitive to the family's educational expectations, which may be different from your own. For example, you may feel that a special education class could help the child to improve his reading skills, but the family may want, above all else, to keep the child free of the stigma attached to being a special ed kid. Similarly, you may feel that your child should go away to college, but the child may feel that to leave his friends and family would be a betrayal of all that he has ever known.

Not every child appreciates having someone poking into his business at school. If education is a primary area of concern, you must deal with it whether or not your child wants you involved. Explain to him as graciously as possible that it is your job to help him get all the services he or she deserves, and part of that help is to make sure that the school is doing all that it should for him. Ask the child how he feels about school and what his favorite placement would be. Let him know that you will do everything you can to ensure the best balance between his desire and the adults' evaluation of his needs. Be especially sensitive to the possibility that if you do show up at the school, the child might not want to be seen with you.

Your child's Cumulative File should be at his or her school. If your child has moved several times, you may find that the school records are not complete. You can play a valuable role in helping the teachers become aware of changes in your child's school performance or attitude simply by helping them to obtain records from other schools or by tracking down a missing Cumulative File.

Requesting an SST, SAP or IEP meeting

If your child is performing significantly below grade level, if she is being disruptive in class and constantly getting into trouble, or if she is truant a lot, consider the possibility that she needs special attention at school.

Special attention may take several forms. If the difficulties are based primarily on emotional or behavioral issues, rather than on specific learning disabilities, a Student Success Team (SST) or Student Assistance Program (SAP) may be appropriate. Both the SST and the SAP consist of the child's teachers, the school principal, the parents, and other interested parties (such as a CASA) getting together to discuss how to help the child. The only significant difference between an SST and an SAP is that the former is designed for the elementary school child and the latter for middle and high school students. Both the SST and the SAP meet to discuss ways in which the school and family can work together to ensure the success of a particular child while keeping her in general education classes.

If you suspect that your child has learning disabilities or behavior problems which prevent her from learning in a regular classroom, she may need an Individual Educational Plan (IEP). Your child may already have had an IEP, in which case you should be included in all future IEP meetings. If your child has never before had an IEP, the first step is for you or another member of the team to request a psycho-educational evaluation. This evaluation will be used as the basis for determining the appropriate educational placement for the child.

You may find either the family or the school system reluctant to proceed with a psycho-educational evaluation. Discuss all concerns with the child's Child Welfare Worker, the child's attorney, and the caregivers as well as your SFCASA Case Supervisor. Be sensitive to all issues that arise. Help the family to understand that the child will have access to valuable services and a more appropriate education if the evaluation takes place. The evaluation may show that the child does not require Special Ed and that another kind of intervention—such as individual or family therapy or a change of classroom—might help her to improve.

Once an evaluation has been conducted, if the results indicate an appropriate level of need, the school will hold an IEP meeting. This meeting reviews the plan, which is based on the results of the evaluation and which is specifically designed to give the child the best possible chance for academic success. The school principal, a parent or educational surrogate, a classroom teacher, a Special Ed teacher, and a representative of the San Francisco Unified School District must all be in attendance.

Becoming a Surrogate Parent For Education Purposes

As an SFCASA volunteer, you are specifically listed in the Education Code as a party qualified to serve as a Surrogate Parent For Education Purposes if no family member is able to represent the child's interests at the meeting.

There are two steps involved in becoming a Surrogate Parent. First, the Court limits the biological parent's rights specifically with regard to education. The child's attorney will file a motion to this effect, and the commissioner will make the order. Second, the CASA volunteer is appointed as the Surrogate and is trained for this role by the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Lurleen Drake is the SFUSD official who trains and approves Surrogate Parents For Education Purposes. Your SFCASA Case Supervisor will help you to contact Ms. Drake.

Once you have been approved to serve as Surrogate for your SFCASA child, you will be notified every time that there is a need for a change in educational placement or for an IEP hearing to be held. No IEP can be approved for implementation without your signature. You will receive copies of the psycho-educational evaluation and will be a full participant in any decisions to be made concerning the education of your child. Your Case Supervisor will help you to formulate your opinion of what type of school placement is in the best interests of the child.

—Libby Colman, Ph.D.

For more information about how SFCASA addresses the needs of court dependent children, see Dr. Colman's article San Francisco Addresses the Needs of Children with Behavior Disorders on the Judicial Council website (follow link, scroll to Volume 2, Number 2).