Is it legal to homeschool foster children?
June 25, 2009 by Homeschooling Support and Curriculum Tips
Filed under More Homeschooling Answers
Hi,
I have often thought about the possibility of taking on a foster child or two. I don’t have any children of my own and I would love to help these children who have lived such tragic lives and try and help them “make it through”.
The question I have is if it would be legal to homeschool them. You see, if I had my own children, I would homeschool them and I really believe it is a good option in most cases. I just don’t know if there are any rules in regards to schooling for foster children.
I would think that it could be beneficial for a lot of them, because it seems like a lot of them are also having trouble in school and could really use some of the more one on one time to help them with their academics.
Anyone with information on this subject, I would really appreciate light you could shed.
Thank you.
Have you claimed your Genesis site?
Homeschooling Feedback: Anyone can be homeschooled. . . just make sure it’s really what you want because it’s a lot of responsibility.
Homeschooling Feedback: This probably depends on the state you live in. You should contact the state agency that deals with foster care and ask them.
Homeschooling Feedback: What state are you from?
Homeschooling Feedback: Yes, but, you must fill out paper work, and use home schooling cirriculum
-BobbiLynn May
Homeschooling Feedback: It probably depends on which country you live in, and maybe even which state or province. I don’t know if this is legal or not, as you’re not the parent of the child.
Homeschooling Feedback: In our state, you can’t homeschool children in foster care. I’m not sure if this is across the board — call your local Department of Human Services to inquire. Also, they can get you started on the process to become a licensed foster parent.
Homeschooling Feedback: We are fostering and as long as they aren’t old enough to go to school legally, they can stay at home. We are a homeschooling family and our foster kids are 2 and 3months so we haven’t dealt with that yet. I hope this helps. I think the legal age is 5 or 6. I cant’ remember.
Homeschooling Feedback: why wouldn’t it legal to homeschool foster children. i mean it would, to some degree, spare the foster childern from always having to make new friends if they are always moving around.
we have a foster child and we have homeschooled our 4 children for over 10 years. We are in Calif. and was tolds it has to be a state accredited school. So we have chosen a homestudy charter school. I felt uneasy to send her to a school but keep our kids home. She wants to home with her “new brother and sisters”. You can also sign up with a public school and do independent study. Its still their books and what not but at least they are home with you. If you have a special needs child that would miss alot of school because of apts. or illness that may also help to system to allow you to do this also.
Homeschooling Feedback: 59-65-46 Homeschooling foster children
A foster parent may teach a foster child at home as provided in Sections 59-65-40, 59-65-45, or any other provision of law [includes 59-65-47], if, in addition to any other requirements, home schooling of the child has been approved by the Department of Social Services or other agency having custody of the child.
Hope this helps you some. I wish you luck.. The children need all our help.
Homeschooling Feedback: My best answer would be to check locally or on the Internet. rules may vary form state to state and I know for sure country to country.
Homeschooling Feedback: I am a homeschooling parent & have had a foster child in the past.
I would not see how it could work, imho.
Being they are a foster child, it is probably temporary arrangement & it would be very hard on them to switch schools, (public)- not to mention from public to homeschooling & back to public again when they are moved again.
Article below mentions this:
Again, I have not experienced that exactly, but seems like it is not a good idea to me.
Homeschooling Feedback: check out hslda.com (homeschool legal defence association).
I’m homeschooled. (-=
I went through a phase when I wanted to go to public school like some of my friends, but now (in highschool), I couldn’t thank them enough for homeschooling us kids!
Homeschooling Feedback: I used to be a social worker [LONG time ago!] and there was one foster family hs’ing; they hs’ed because this particular foster child was missing one arm and was VERY SMART, and had the twin school problems of being made fun of and not being academically challenged. At the time, hs’ing was nearly unheard of.
This is just a GUESS, but I would guess that with the rise in the hs movement, that each agency has a set policy about hs’ing. You would need to check with the agency you plan to be licensed with to see what their policy is. Also, many of the foster care placements are short-term, and I am thinking it would be VERY EXPENSIVE to keep buying curricula; I am thinking [could be wrong here] that if you are allowed to hs a foster child, that you would not be allowed to use unit studies, unschooling, multi-age teaching, or material from a Christian publisher. I am ‘just guessing’ that you would have to use grade-specific material, or use the same stuff that the local ps is using.
I would think, as a parent and former social worker,that if a child is removed from his natural parents’ home, that it would be less traumatic to go to a foster home and be hs’ed there, rather than changing homes AND changing schools. HOWEVER. I would think that the average foster care agency would say that the child is used to attending school and that it would be less traumatic for the child to keep attending, even though in most cases the child goes to a different school [in spite of the rhetoric you hear about trying to keep kids in the same school district, it is the actual opposite - the foster care agency does NOT want the natural parent meeting the foster parent with their kid in Walmart, so they try to put the child in a different area].
Homeschooling Feedback: It’s legal, but not advisable. Kids NEED the interaction of public school.
Homeschooling Feedback: That might depend on where you live. People are allowed to homeschool foster kids here, but each place has its own rules about fostering. You’ll have to find a contact where you live and ask about it.
Homeschooling Feedback: Way to go! We love homeschooling, and it’s wonderful that you are thinking of blessing foster children with this superior way to teach and learn.
The best source for information on homeschooling law is The Home School Legal Defense Association. Go to. Then call to speak with an attorney who covers your state. If you’re not a member, they’ll probably still talk to you, but they’ll ask you to join. It’s cheap for the information and protection you get!
Homeschooling Feedback: Not usually, but it would depend on your state. These really are not your children, therefore the state is the legal guardian. They would have to approve homeschooling. Meyers would not be a valid case in reference to this because they are not your children.
Homeschooling Feedback: Not in NJ. There was a single case of a family (the Jackson family of Collingswood) who was starving their children (adopted former foster children) and even though it was clearly a failure of Child Protective Services (DYFS in NJ) it was blamed on homeschooling and the law was changed. The DYFS folks had visited the house something like 30 times and never noticed the kids were starving. So they were under direct supervision and somehow this was blamed on homeschooling??
Regardless, in NJ you cannot have a foster child and homeschool them. If you adopt them as your own it is a different story of course. And I agree with you - these kids would benefit tremendously from one on one teaching!
Homeschooling Feedback: DONT HOMESCHOOL
public and private schools are set there to teach more than to add and subtract, it teaches students to interact with others and to be a citizen. if you homeschool someone you take away alot of the development of the child. if the child is having a hard time in school look into tutoring like Sylvian. But to shield them from the world is going to just cause further damage to the child.
Homeschooling Feedback: They keep you on a pretty short leash until you become Legal Guardian. Once that happens you will more than likely be able to homeschool. Before you become legal guardian you can’t even get the child’s haircut without asking the social workers permission first. There are a lot of rules when fostering children.
I am a home school parent, and a foster care social worker in Virginia. This question has come up in my caseload a couple of times, and I do not have a difinitive answer. I searched our agency website, and found no help there. This may be the “third rail” of foster care. I actually have more questions than answers at this point:
1. Are you a member of the Home School Legal Defense Association? (www.hslda.org) I have not gotten to this point, but it would be an excellent question for them.
2. What country/state are you in? Home school law varies widely between states.
3. Have you considered these obstacles:
a. residual rights of the natural parent
b. your status as a foster care giver…If you receive payment for foster care, then you are a professional caregiver. Your provision of educational servicesmay be viewed by local entities as attempting to operate a private school, as opposed to opting to educate your “own” children at home.
c. Lack of permanency…If you only have these children in your home for, say, 6 months, they will likely return to public school. You have created a potentially harmful disruption in their educational career, based largely on a personal (though valid) philosophy. Make sure you have the full support of the agency that you work through.
There’s a lot more on this, but this is just a little food for thought. Personally, I hope that we can discover a means to use home education with foster children, but I think it will involev agency policy change and careful legislation. Contact http://www.hslda.org.