Episode 71 – Helping Foster Kids Succeed in School
A new school year has begun and we’re learning how to help our kids with their school work. We discuss reasons that children in the foster care system often have learning delays or fall behind in school, including social and emotional issues.
One way that a parents can help their children is by requesting an Individual Education Plan. An IEP should be requested in writing.
We also share more listener comments on how to prepare a foster child for an adoptive home.
jk said,
October 26, 2009 @ 12:20 am
Thanks for this post T & W. I’m a teacher so this is good information for me.
Shannon said,
October 30, 2009 @ 11:33 am
Hey!!
I love your podcast, its awesome!! I have been listening for awhile (started when you got in the car accident).
I was wondering if you ever considered doing a show or interviewing someone on relative foster care, and the extra challenges it involves. I think a lot of people (including myself, since that is my situation) would benefit from it.
Thanks for your show, and have a great weekend!!
Shannon
Lisa Rose said,
November 5, 2009 @ 10:51 am
Thanks for being so silly and making me laugh!
Kim said,
November 15, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
Well guys I did it- I relistened to all 71 of your episodes- a true Tim and Wendy marathon. (I mostly listened while jogging so put yourselves down for at least a half marathon!) I am a proud foster mom and long time fan of yours. I want say thank you again for all that I have learned from you, and for all the inspiration you have given our family. In listening to the episodes again, I learned something from every one of them. Thank you and I hope you will keep the podcast going.
Ron Fritsche said,
November 19, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
I had lunch with Sid Cook today & he had sent me your podcast. I listened to your perspective with great interest!
If you move to the Denver area we would love to work with you. I am the founder & executive director of a licensed child placement agency that’s Christian, & I think you would find that we would work well for you if you ever relocate. You might even find that we are just as good, or if everything went right even better than Olivecrest!
Anyway, thanks for what you do and feel free to contact me.
Ron Fritsche
303.935.3199
W said,
November 23, 2009 @ 9:13 am
Ron, thanks for your comment, and please greet Sid for us! We will spread the word about Colorado Family Services when listeners ask us about finding an agency in your area.
W
Melissa Negron said,
December 1, 2009 @ 9:23 am
Can you please post that comment from the foster parent in this episode. With all the ideas of preparing the child for the family. Ex. photos, med, appt.
Thanks for doing what you do!
Brad said,
December 17, 2009 @ 8:25 pm
I’d love to hear you revisit this topic once you’ve been through the process some more. Fighting with the school to perform the assessment is just the first step. Late you can look forward to fighting with the school to agree on the necessary services and then fighting with the school to actually provide the services spelled out in the IEP.
As Wendy said, there are tons of IEP resources out there. We found a couple of books very helpful when we were first diving into this topic. Nolo’s IEP Guide was probably the single most important resource we used. The other thing that was a huge help were online resources. We live in Pennsylvania, and the Parent Education Network had tons of great stuff like annotated draft IEPs. They are part of the Technical Assistance Alliance, which I would recommend as a place to start to look for state-specific resources in other places (taalliance.org).
Good luck!