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Foster Care & Education

Using The Texas Blueprint as a roadmap, the Foster Care & Education Committee focuses on strategies to improve educational experiences and outcomes for children and youth experiencing foster care in Texas.

Foster Care & Education Committee

Hon. Randy Shelton, Chair; Joy Baskin, Hon. Susan Brown, Sarah Crockett, Lori Duke, Kristi Duck, Dr. Monica FaulknerDr. Tanya Goldbeck, Rocky HensarlingKelly Kravitz, Hon. Selina Mireles, Wanda Pena, Ian Spechler

Staff: Aimee Corbin, Tiffany Edwards

Please visit the sections below for more about current projects or visit the Reports & Resources webpage for recent publications.

 

Transforming Education Outcomes for Children and Youth in Texas Foster Care

In 2010, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an Order Establishing the Education Committee of the Children's Commission. The Education Committee — a high-level group of court, education, and child welfare decision-makers — created a collaborative initiative and produced a roadmap for the Education Committee to follow, the Texas Blueprint: Transforming Education Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster Care.

The Education Committee recognized that when the state has the legal status of a parent for a child in its Temporary Managing Conservatorship, the child’s community is also responsible to provide support to that child as they experience the child welfare system. Through improved communication and collaboration, the court, child welfare, and education systems are better equipped to meet the educational needs of students in care. 

Working together, the various systems affecting the children and youth in care can aim to improve the educational outcomes of our children and youth in care.

In December 2012, the Supreme Court of Texas signed an order officially discharging the Education Committee from its duties and creating a new Texas Blueprint Implementation Task Force and Advisory Council to continue the collaboration begun by the Education Committee and to monitor the progress of implementation of the recommendations issued in the Texas Blueprint. The Implementation Task Force met from January 2013 until December 2014, at which time it provided recommendations in the Texas Blueprint Implementation Task Force Final Report for future work to the Children's Commission.

 

In February 2015, the Children's Commission created a standing Foster Care & Education Committee to maintain momentum and oversee the continued implementation of the Texas Blueprint recommendations. The next phase of implementation began with the first meeting of the Foster Care & Education Committee on July 20, 2015. The Foster Care & Education Committee meets quarterly to monitor progress of the workgroups and prioritize projects.