Removing Barriers to Education, Virginia

Through a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (www.mott.org), in conjunction with the Youth Law Center and JustChildren (a project of the Legal Aid Justice Center of Virginia), CCLP has been working to reduce barriers to education for youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. CCLP’s work has focused on Richmond, as well as some statewide policy work in Virginia.

In 2005, Virginia enacted Senate Bill 1006, which created new rights for youth in foster care to promote their educational stability. The law, codified at §§ 22.1-289, 22.1-3.4 and 63.2-900 of the Code of Virginia, allows youth in foster care to remain in schools they have been attending even when changing foster care placements if it is in their best interests to do so. It also allows for rapid entry into a new school following placement change, to avoid previous delays in school enrollment while awaiting hard-to-access records. CCLP supported this legislative change and worked with Richmond Public Schools to develop and implement a protocol for the new requirements.

In 2006, the Virginia Department of Education issued regulations governing the re-enrollment of youth returning from out-of-home juvenile justice placements. In addition to providing commentary and testimony on proposed regulations, CCLP staff provided training on this and other new legal developments for judges and other professionals in Richmond who work with at-risk youth.

Through this project CCLP has also been involved in research regarding general and special education needs in Richmond, and specifically for youth involved in the drug court program. For more information on barriers to education for at-risk youth, see Getting Out of the Red Zone: Youth from the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems Speak Out About the Obstacles to Completing Their Education and What Would Help by Youth Law Center staff attorney Sue Burrell.