Private school for foster/adopt kids

Are you going to be their foster parent? As in a foster-to-adopt situation? Or is this an pre-adoption placement? Ours had TPR's, but were under appeal and that took about 10 months to sort through. I think it would take a lot of red-tape to get a foster child into a private school (the state is responsible for the child and "the state" is already paying for the public school, so they don't want to pay for a private school). I've heard this argument before. The only time I've heard of this being allowed is when the child really had special needs that a public school couldn't handle. However, there are exceptions to every rule (I'm sure someone around here knows of at least one! :D ). If it's a pre-adoptive placement, you have a LOT more say in what goes on with the children. Just a thought, if the public schools are so bad, they must fall under the "No child left behind" law. So, if they are on a "tier" (which means the school didn't do what it was supposed to do), then children at that school have the option of transferring to a school that is doing what it's supposed to do. If there isn't another school performing up to standards in the district, then the school district has to pay and transport to another school in another district! You might want to look into this avenue as well. Good luck! :)

I'm no help since I have no idea about the law there, but I'm wondering - if money is the issue, could you get permission to put them in private school if YOU pay for it? Anyway, if you think it might be the bias of the caseworker, talk to her supervisor.

Texas, as far as I am told we will be the pre-adoptive placement, they are now legally free for adoption. The court date today was to request they be moved to a new pre-adoptive placement because the current FP have had a health issue come up and are older and have decided it would be best for the kids to go to a younger family. Stevenstwin, we had assumed we would pay for it out of our own pocket but I don't think I made that clear last night although I think I have asked the CW generally about it before, saying we would pay for it and she was against it then too.

If she is already in a private school in her current placement, why can't she continue to go to a private school? Is there a way you can talk to the current foster parents about it? Is there a reason, like a Dr. said she would be better off in private school at this time, then not only would you be able to get her in, but you would be able to have the state pay for it and can have it written into your adoption subsidy that anything that is Dr. recommended will be paid for by the state. I think something is going on witht he SW and would urge you to talk to the current foster parents to see why she is in private school now and who is paying for it. Good Luck!

We had a 5 year-old little girl and sent her to private school. To be honest, I didn't even ask for permission. We were paying for it out of our own pocket, felt smaller classes would be better suited for her, and nobody had a problem with it... just a little :woohoo: at the idea that we actually spent our subsidy on it. There was a downside and I can see your cw's point on this: public schools DO have services available that simply aren't offered in private schools. Our fd had soooo many behavior problems in school. Thankfully she had the most patient, kindest teacher I've ever met who was willing to give her some extra attention, but she needed something more and in the end, we took her out because she was too disruptive and it wasn't fair to the rest of the kids (and their paying parents). I don't know if any of that applies to your fc, but if we were to ever take another one who had behavioral problems, we would probably opt for public school, at least until they calmed down a bit. In the meantime though, I'd ask your cw outright if she's giving her opinion or stating an actual "law" pertaining to foster children and schooling. I think the choice should definitely be yours, but I suppose it could vary from state to state? Ginger

Currently, this child has no behavioral problems at school that are mentioned in her social summary and she isn't even receiving any services that are mentioned in the info we saw. However, we haven't seen the whole file yet so I don't know. (It may not matter as today's court date ended with a relative showing up at the last minute wanting the kids.) Now the judge is looking at the case again. I'm surprised you didn't even have to ask permission to send a fc to private school though. That is interesting--I will ask if it is against the law or not. That's good advice... What state are you in?

I will ultimately send my children to private religous school. But after much thought we decided not to make the change until they were actually adopted. There are a lot of services offered to foster children at public school. Free lunch, special tutoring, and counseling. The pubilic schools also interact with the social workers and it is a place social workers can visit them on their own (without foster parent intervention). When we asked to let them go to private school we were discouraged also. We are in the appeal period right now. It should be over around January and the adoption should be in February. We are changing the childrens names upon adoption. Next school year they will start the new school year off at a new private school with their new names. All of the foster children stuff will be in the past as nobody at the new school will know anything about it. We think that this will give them the best chance at success and escaping the foster child stigma.

In our area, you would have to have it approved and pay for it yourself. Religious private schools would probably not be approved. On a side note, my youngest bio son had a speech delay/issue.He started attending the same very good private school that his brother attended. They had no speech services. I had to arrange for him to leave that school and go to the nearest public school to receive services once a day. Not only was it a pain for me - he was missing to much time out of his regular classes. Due to a job change, we wound up moving in the middle of first grade.I researched all the private schools in the new county - none had speech services, so i went it the school district with the best test scores. He recieved speech services daily and lost only minutes walking down the hall. My moral of the story - depending on the kind of services your foster kids may need the private school may not be a good choice. Find out exactly what services they need. Contact the private schools in your area and see if they can offer those services BEFORE you even approach the CW. If they can support their needs, you have a better case for the CW. Good Luck

The private school I sent my bio son to has a special needs lab with similar services to that of the public schools. A wealthy parent donated the lab after his son was killed tragically. The boy had dyslexia and needed special education and because of that the school we would send them to is equipped relatively well for special needs kids. Good idea though to find out what specifically they offer before approaching the CW. I also like the idea of sending the kids to private school after they are adopted to avoid the foster kid stigma.--I hadn't thought of that before but it's a great point. You guys are all so helpful!:grouphug: