Month in Review: September 2025
It is commonly known within the child welfare world that once school is in session, the amount of foster care referrals increases. Why? Because with kids back in the classroom, they are under the watchful and caring eyes of their teachers and other school staff, who are mandated reporters. This certainly played out for us this month, as September brought us the highest number of foster care referrals so far in 2025, a total of 84.
Let's break down the stats:
Age:
- 21% of children were age 0-2
- 14% of children were age 3-5
- 17% of children were age 6-8
- 17% of children were age 9-11
- 13% of children were age 12-14
- 14% of children were age 15-17
- 4% of children were 18 or older
County:
- 29% were from Montgomery County
- 15% were from Delaware County
- 12% were from Berks County
- 11% were from Northampton County
- 11% were from Dauphin County
- 11% were from Bucks County
- 5% were from Lehigh County
- 2% were from Schuylkill County
We were able to place 3 children in foster homes in the month of September. That means that unfortunately, we were not able to place 81 of these children. For 17 of them, we either had a home that wasn't selected by the county, or the county ended up not needing to place the child after all. This happens when they are able to avoid foster care altogether by putting a safety plan in place with the child's family, or when they find a family (kinship) resource who is able to care for the child.
That still leaves a significant number of children we had to sadly decline.
- For 8 children, we didn't have a home due to the number of siblings
- For 19 children, we didn't have a home due to the child's location
- For 16 children, we didn't have a home due to the child's level of need
- For 18 children, we didn't have a home due to the child's age
Since location was our biggest barrier this month, it makes sense to talk about school. This is such an important factor!
Many people wonder what happens when a school-age child is placed into foster care. In a perfect world, we would love to find a foster home in the same school district so that the child could continue to attend their same school. However, when foster homes are already in critically short supply, this is not always possible. In fact, more often than not we end up having to place children in foster homes located outside of their school district. So then what - do they automatically transfer to the local school where their foster home is located? No. Remember that this child is already going through an incredibly significant transition and change. Being abruptly pulled from their school, friends, activities, teachers and other trusted adults, and routines would add to their trauma. Plus, if the goal is reunification (which it almost always is!), it would make the most sense for the child to continue attending their school.
But there are times when this gets tricky. What if the only foster home that can be found is far away? Who will provide the transportation? How far is too far for a child to be transported to school? If a child is significantly truant or has moved around a lot and doesn't have much of a connection at their school, then can they transfer to a new school? One thing that is important, but difficult, for foster parents to understand is that they (or we) don't get to make these decisions on a child's behalf. Since foster parents do not have Educational Decision Maker rights, making a decision about where a child attends school is outside of their scope.
In most cases, after a child is placed in a foster home the county will set up a Best Interest Determination, or BID meeting. This meeting includes representatives from their home school district, the local school district of the foster home where they are placed, and others who are involved with the child's case such as county workers, sometimes foster parents, GAL, etc. All of the parties talk about the child's unique situation and come up with a plan for how school should work moving forward. If they will be remain in their current school, who will provide the transportation? If they will be transferred to the local school of the foster home, what supports need to transfer with them?
Maintaining as much normalcy for children in foster care is crucial, but we always have to balance that with the reality of finding them a safe and loving foster home. There are times when the "ideal" situation can't happen, but we all do our best to put the child's needs first and foremost at all times!
Do you live near in a very large school district, or in an area strategically situation between several different school districts? Do you have flexibility in your schedule and the ability to drive kids to and from school? You could be in an ideal location for foster care! Contact us if you would like to learn more about opening your home to children in need of care.
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