Date of Award

3-1-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Cynthia Hazel, Ph.D.

Keywords

Foster children, Schools and foster children, School transition

Abstract

Children in foster care move two times per year on average. School records are not always transferred in a timely manner, which leads to a lack of services. Schools often are not aware of the legal issues surrounding foster care, such as who has legal rights to sign field trip permission slips or consent for educational evaluations. This study led to the development of an informational guideline as to how best support the school transition process for children in foster care. The Delphi technique was used to enlist the expertise of four respondent groups: foster parents, Guardians ad Litem, school psychologists, and social services workers. Data was gathered in three rounds. Round 1 gathered information the respondents believed to be pertinent when a foster child transitions schools. Round 2 synthesized and formalized information gathered from Round 1, and asked respondents their level of agreement and suggestions for improvement. Round 3 led to the development of an informational guideline to promote smooth school transitions for children in foster care for respondents to review and approve. The end product was a refined informational guideline intended for schools to utilize when a child in foster care transitions schools so that the child and school are prepared for the transition in the best possible way.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Ghyslyn T. Laviolette

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

123 p.

Discipline

Educational psychology

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