Three changes that will help foster children in Pa. succeed in school

Maura McInerney, Kate Burdick, philly.com •

"Young people in foster care are among the most educationally at risk of all student populations. A 2014 CHOP Policylab Report showed these children fall far below their peers academically, are more likely to be eligible for special education services, and experience higher rates of absenteeism and lower rates of grade promotion and credit accumulation. All of these factors mean a greater risk of dropping out. Philadelphia is making progress in addressing these issues, but, according to a 2014 Project UTurn report, more than half of youth in foster care, and 64 percent of youth involved in the juvenile justice system, still do not graduate from high school.

Philadelphia cannot ignore this problem. One in five high school students (and 17 percent of students districtwide) are involved with the child-welfare or juvenile-justice systems — including about 6,000 total youth in foster care at any one time in the city. They are disproportionately students of color, students with disabilities, and students that identify as LGBT or gender-expansive. We are fortunate to have many dedicated partners actively working on this issue, but we all must and can do more."

About the Expert

Kate Burdick is a Senior Attorney at Juvenile Law Center with over a decade of experience advocating for youth in the justice and child welfare systems. She first started at Juvenile in 2009 as the eighth Sol and Helen Zubrow Fellow in Children's Law, then later served as an Equal Justice Works Fellow (sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP) and Staff Attorney. Between fellowships, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.