Will my foster cildren be eligible for Head Start?

Ah, No Matter What... We discovered that about a month in to our placement with three sisters. At night when I tucked them in, gave them hugs (eventually the littest gave me "real" hugs BACK) and told them I loved them, they would whisper back to me, "No Matter What!" The morning they left, the littlest was sitting on my lap and we were once again talking about what was happening... she was struggling to understand (as was I to be honest). Out of the blue, she asked me "Will your love go with me or will it stay?" :( I of course replied that my love will always be with her... NO MATTER WHAT! Ugh, memories *sob* The last thing I did before we went to the airport was grab the book, write a note to all of them telling them that I would always love them and tuck it into the littlest's backpack for her to discover on the plane. I've seen the book several times since, but just can't bring myself to buy another copy... I hope that they remember and if they do I hope the memory is a comfort to them...

You made me cry! What a lovely, heart wrenching experience. I wonder how I'll ever get through this book with no tears when I am reading it to my foster kids? It is SO absolutely perfect. Maybe I should start a thread for good books for reading to your foster children? I'd love to see what books have been helpful to everyone's little ones. Or is there a thread already that I've not found?

Kids can qualify for Head Start when they are 3, however, most programs prefer they are older and would be going to Kindergarten the next year. They often do priority points based on income, need, sibs, etc. Foster children are typically at the top of the list as far as priority. They CANNOT count your income, as they are a ward of the state. I am a former Head Start teacher and worked in an awesome program. We had NAEYC (national assoc for the education of young children...big stuff) accreditation. however, when i went to enroll my fs in the local head start here, i was appalled. they had no openings, but i was glad. check out the program, as for a tour. make sure its something you want your fc going to. there are sadly many programs that have no quality and are a glorified babysitting service. just check it out, hopefully its a quality program.

I too was a HeadStart teacher before starting the process of adopting our daughter from China. HeadStart is a wonderful program and the center I was with I know would put foster children at the top of the list because of need. The main advice that I have is to contact them now and find out how soon you can register them for the next year school session as I am sure now there are no openings. Also the center I was with did not prioritize according to age, there was an equal number of 3, 4, and 5 year olds. As a past teacher I can say that usually a child that needs a little extra TLC will get it from the teachers as well as other outside services such as speech, if needed. The center director even took the children for dentist appointments if the parents could not or would not take them. Stephanie

Our foster daughter is all set up and ready to go to Head Start-- the only problem is an opening in the nearby school (each class has 18 openings, but they'll overfill it to 19). They were supposed to have an opening two weeks ago but the little boy won't leave yet. Because I have a nice Head Start coordinator she bumped my foster daughter up to the top of her waiting list, which was great, but then had an immediate opening two weeks ago and put someone else in. So now we're waiting and waiting for the other opening (any day now????) so she can get out of the house. The way it's looking right now she'll be in Head Start about the time she gets moved to her aunt's house. Oh, and this school will bus her to and from school.

Thanks everyone for your words of experience re Head Start. I hope I am fortunate enough to have a child the right age to go!

Max, as long as the child is 3 by their cut-off date, you should be fine! And the child can't be of Kindergarten age...must have missed the cut off date to start. Again, while most programs prefer older kids, when it comes to foster kids, they typically bypass the normalities and go to the top of the list! Just make sure the program is somewhere you feel comfortable leaving your child. All Head Starts go through a "federal inspection" every 3 years, so they have to be meeting standards in order to keep open. Head Start does do vision,hearing, and dental screenings, so if there is an area of concern with the child, they will work to help you get services. They also have services for speech/language. On whole, the program is wonderful for all kids! Shannon

in all states foster children are concidered for services indpendently of there caregivers income. In many states they even have what they term early head start. This progrm alows Children to begin the program as infants. I hope this reply was helpful.

Here, if your local school offers head start foster children are pretty much guaranteed a place in the class. Our local school doesn't have it, so our children were not permitted to go because here Head Start is only available in low economic areas.

:love: Actually many people will be suprised that even your biological children may be income eligible for headstart as they recently adjusted the requirements to 130% of poverty. I know all of my kids qualify since we have a household of 7 and are on my income alone ($45K). Both my bio/adopted and foster kids have benefitted from this program as it is 10x as good as any of the preschools in our area (ours is NAEYC too). The oversight of the programs are fantastic and since it is federally regulated and sustained it cannot get messed up by our state "politicians" and thier inability to manage a goverment (I live in Michigan, I can be bitter these days!). Unfortunately the federal program has been flat funded for several years so cuts have had to be made and in many areas the number of slots available has decreased. No matter what the foster families income, all foster children that are age eligible are income eligible because they are considered a Family of 1, and the only income considered is the foster care stipend. Kids qualify for Headstart if they are 2 yrs and 8 mos at the time of the start of school year. Where we live they prefer the kids attend Headstart as a 3 year old and continue for a second year as a four year old but they put foster children at the top of the list no matter their age. They offer many different programs including traditional (3, 1/2 days a week), extended day (4, 6 hour days week) and full day/full year (4, 8-9 hour days w/flexible pick up/drop off, sept-end of july). The full day/full year is typically for working parents or those attending school who would normally put thier children in daycare. Every area is different but I know many places have the classes assigned for fall by the end of March. I know our program contacted me in March 2008 to let me know my daughter's assigned classroom and when orientation would be for Sept 2008. Early Headstart is a wonderful program that is usually primarily Home-based and is meant for children 0-3 years and pregnant moms. I loved this because a "teacher" who specializes in infant toddler development came to our home once a week for an hour tovisit with the babies and evaluate thier progress. They picked up on subtle details that I would have missed and actually contacted Early On and got services for one of my foster babies that ended up needing OT and PT. That early intervention is probably what has resulted in him being "normal" now instead of significantly developmentally delayed. Also they taught me a lot of great things to help encourage appropriate development in the kids. On several occasions the EHS Home visitor met the bio parents and I at visits which allowed them to learn great parenting techniques too. When one of the kids went home with bio dad, EHS continued to visit weekly with him and it proved invaluable in maintaing continuity for the child and support for the very overwhelmed new daddy. Headstart and Early Headstart are also a great pipeline into all the other resources in a community, so if you are hooked up with them and find yourself needing something else, they usually know where to go to get it.

I was told they count our stipend for whether or not the child would qualify to go when I called. They had no openings and they already had the bus route laid out so I would have to take her everyday. Not possible so I opted to not sign her up yet. I would love to though she needs to get out of the house from time to time.

Bubba goes to Head Start and, frankly, I wish I'd placed him in the paid preschool that Sissy is in. Glorified babysitting doesn't even begin to talk about it. Example--He's been counting for a while, but misses 16 almost always. Dh mentioned it to his teacher and she waived her hand at him and said, "We're just working on 1 to 5." He's come home with mystery bruises. He's constantly in trouble (I'm thinking boredom). His work isn't nearly as interesting as Sissy's. And the way they talk to us is completely condescending and aggravating. We both teach. He has his masters degree and mine will be finished in May. We've been asked several times if they can help us with finishing our GED. If I'm finding their lack of memory and the tone they use so upsetting, what are the folks who haven't had the educational opportunities we have feeling? I'm guessing this is a local problem. What I'm saying, I guess, is that even though some programs may be wonderful, not all of them are. I'd want to see the thing in action before I placed another child in it. And bus routes can be changed, by the way. They do it all the time when kids move into the district. My masters degreed husband drives a bus to support his teaching habit!

My 4yo foster son goes to Head Start as well. He goes to all-day HS instead of day care, like his baby sister. It took awhile for me to get him in, not because they didn't have room, but because of trying to get ahold of the right person that knew something about getting a foster child in HS. Once I found her it was a breeze, but the few people before her didn't have a clue.They did have to know my stipend, but they didn't ask for my income, so the only income counted was the stipend. I really like the program that he's in.HEIDI

Here a foster child is eligible for Headstart based on just their subsidy/maintenence income so they all qualify as far as income is concerned. Some have bussing, some don't, depends on your area. As far as getting in thou it does depend on if they already have all the slots full and they do make the classroom so many 3 yr old and so many 4 yr olds. They start taking applications in March but usually (at least around here) don't make the decision about who is going to be accepted until early July. Also, they are eligible for homebased intervention services and early headstart( 2 yr olds). When they call you in July, they will see if you are still interested and if you think the child will be in your home for awhile yet (they don't want to go thru all the paperwork if the child is expected to leave at the end of September or shortly after school will be starting.

Mommy2fiveplus,I totally agree with you! Dollar for dollar, HeadStart and Early HeadStart are the best investment anybody can make. They pay off so much in healthier, more emotionally secure kids who do well in school.Isn't it amazing that so many federal programs that do NOTHING get funded, while HeadStart often struggles for funding? If I were president, I'd make the Defense Department and HeadStart trade budgets. :-)