Foster Homeless Education Title
 
Questions and Answers about AB 490
  1. What is AB 490?

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  2. What does AB 490 require?

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  3. Which youth does AB 490 cover?

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  4. When a child leaves foster care and returns home to live with their biological parents, must the school district allow them to immediately enroll? If they want to stay in their school of origin, can they? And is the foster youth liaison required to work with such youth?

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  5. Does AB 490 apply to voluntary placements?

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  6. Does AB 490 apply to informal placements with relatives, when there is no juvenile court involvement?

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  7. Does AB 490 apply to a child 5.5 years old who is enrolling in Kindergarten, even though compulsory education does not begin until age 6 in California?

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  8. What is the remedy if districts or schools don't comply with the provisions of AB 490?

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  9. If a foster youth has the right to stay in her school of origin if it is in her "best interest," how is best interest determined?

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  10. If the decision makers (e.g. educational liaison, person with education rights, child) disagree over whether it is in the child's best interest to remain in school of origin, how is the dispute resolved?

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  11. Who is responsible for providing transportation to the youth's school of origin?

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  12. Is it true that the child welfare agency has no input into whether it is in the child's best interest to remain in her school of origin?

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  13. What recourse do attorneys or case workers have if they disagree with the educational placement decision made by the person holding educational rights, the child, and the liaison?

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  14. When the district liaison, person with educational rights, and youth all agree that a child should stay in her school of origin, can the district of origin require the youth to complete interdistrict transfer paperwork from the new school of residence?

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  15. If a foster child experiences a change of placement during the summer, but would like to attend his or her school of origin in the fall, does AB 490 give her this right?

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  16. How can schools allow foster youth to enroll without immunization records? Won't this jeopardize the health of other students?

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  17. How does the automatic enrollment provision apply to children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that require a specific placement?

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  18. If a student has an expired IEP, must they be immediately enrolled? Can the school district postpone enrollment until an IEP can be held?

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  19. Are schools allowed to require a birth certificate before enrollment?

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  20. Some schools have requirements that students successfully complete a certain number of credits before they can participate in certain extra curricular activities; can schools apply these requirements to foster children?

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  21. Does the list of documents referred to in AB 490 include the student's cumulative file?

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  22. Can a school refuse to forward transcripts for a foster child to his/her new school because there is an outstanding debt owed on books?

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  23. What is the definition of "deliver" for the requirement that a school "deliver" the pupil's educational records to a new school within 2 business days? Is it sufficient for the old school to put them in the mail within in 2 days?

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  24. What should a child welfare worker or school do if they have difficulty determining who holds educational rights? Where should they turn?

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  25. Who can sign the emergency information card for a child? Must that person have education rights?

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  26. How does the court decide that the parents are unable or unwilling to hold educational rights?

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  27. Can the school appoint a surrogate parent for special education purposes if the court has not limited the rights of the parents, but the school district can't find them?

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  28. Are there existing county/district models on partial credits?

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  29. Can a student be required by a teacher to make up work missed as the result of absences caused by a change in placement, attendance at a court hearing or court-ordered activity?

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  30. If a student is covered by both McKinney-Vento and AB 490, which one governs?

 

Date last updated: October 11, 2005
TIPS  


DISTRICT LIAISONS  

This section contains a list of all district liaisons for foster care and homeless education programs in Santa Clara county. If you want to be added to this list please let us know.

CONTACT  

Sonja House, MSW
FYS Coordinator

Phone: (408) 453-6956
Fax: (408) 441-7824

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