Foster Care

From the Oregon Department of Education website:

Students in Foster Care 
The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, outlines that Sate Education Agencies (SEA) hold specific responsibilities aimed at supporting the educational rights and opportunities of students in Foster Care; this also falls within requirements established under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). 

Foster Care student rights include: 

• access to immediate enrollment in schools regardless of access to records or additional requirements; 
• free transportation to and from school;
• access to free meal services, and 
• support engaging in academically and socially enriching activities offered by their school district. 

Within this context, Foster Care is defined as substitute care for children placed by the Department of Human Services or a tribal child welfare agency away from their parents and for whom the department or agency has placement and care responsibility , including: 

• Placement in foster family homes, 
• Foster homes of relatives, 
• Group homes, 
• Emergency shelters, 
• Residential facilities, 
• Child care institutions and 
• Pre-adoptive homes

Graduation Requirements and College Preparation
ORS 329.451 has been amended by the State Legislature in 2017 in such a way to allow students who have been in foster care, at some point during grades 9 to 12, to earn a high school diploma by meeting the high school diploma standards established by the State Legislature. In order to do this, the local school district must grant a waiver of diploma requirements established by the LEA board of education. In this situation, the definition of foster care student would include those students in DHS Child Welfare custody as well as those foster students placed in Development Disability foster home. These changes take place on 7/1/17.

State Resources 

Oregon Department of Education - Students in Foster Care

Foster Care Student Rights