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Foster Care – The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, Public Law 110-351 requires state child welfare agencies to collaborate with their state and local education agencies to promote school stability and improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. Students in foster care are categorically eligible for all U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) child nutrition programs. Caregivers for children and youth in foster care do not have to complete a separate application to participate in these programs.
Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, ensures educational rights and protections for children and youth experiencing housing instability.
The term “homeless children and youth”—
Means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence …; and
Includes—
children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters or are abandoned in hospitals.
children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodation for human beings …
children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
If you are experiencing housing instability or have students in Foster Care, there are resources that can be provided to you. Please visit us at the VISD KIDZconnection at 1611 E. North St or call 361.788.9909.
Yvonne Rossman
Family & KIDZConnection Coordinator/Highly Mobile & At-Risk Student Programs Coordinator
Phone: 361-788-9909 ext. 36203
Fax: 361-788-9711
Debbie Sulivan
Family Connection Center Assistant
Phone: 361-788-9673 ext. 36201
Wanda Pagel
KIDZ Connection Liaison
Phone: 361-788-9909
Gayle Burden
Intake Technician
Phone: 361-788-9909
Emilie "Veronica" Welvaert
Project Success Assistant
Phone: 361-788-2830
Tiffany Martinez
Project Success Assistant
Phone: 361-788-9909
Lisa Cabrera
Project Success Assistant
Phone: 361-788-2820
Computer Lab: Use computer for checking grades, research, typing reports practicing skills or just for fun! You can even print your papers
Family Resource Center : You can check out books, videos, toys, games, and puzzles
Holiday Food Baskets: Makes referrals to community agencies or business for homeless or at risk families to receive food baskets during the holiday season
Make & Take It Center: Work on projects, posters,file-folders, games, or create something fun with die cuts and other art materials -- we furnish all the materials and they are FREE!
Pack the Bus School Supply Drive: Works with Faith Family Church to collect and distribute school supplies to the homeless and needy families
Toddler Time: Weekly Programs where parents and toddlers learn together having fun with stories, repetitive songs, and activities to encourage early learning
Toys for Tots: Works with Faith Family Church and the United States Marines to collect and distribute toys to needy children
Wrap a Child in Warmth Coat and Blanket Drive: Works with Coldwell Bankers, Ron Brown Real Estate, the Victoria Community and Triangle Cleaners
Pregnancy-Related Services are support services, including Compulsory Education Home Instruction (CEHI), that a pregnant student receives during the pregnancy prenatal and postpartum periods to help her adjust academically, mentally, and physically and stay in school.
VISD Family Connection provides these services to a student when:
the student is pregnant and attending classes on a VISD campus;
the pregnancy prenatal period prevents the student from attending classes on a VISD campus; and
the pregnancy postpartum period prevents the student from attending classes on a VISD campus.
Support services provided by VISD Family Connection and the student’s campus may
include:
counseling services including the initial session when the student discloses the pregnancy;
health services including services from a school nurse and certified athletic trainer;
transportation for the student and the student’s child(ren) to school and VISD Child Development Center;
instruction (inside and outside the classroom) related to parenting knowledge and skills,
including child development, home and family living, and appropriate job readiness
training;
child care for student’s children from 4 weeks to 24 months at the Teen Parent Connection Center;
case management and service coordination (assistance in obtaining services from government agencies and community service organizations).
Compulsory Education Home Instruction (CEHI)
CEHI is a mandatory support service component districts offer in the Pregnancy Related Services (PRS) program to help students adjust academically, mentally and physically, and to stay in school.
Eligibility for Services - Any school-age student who is in the prenatal or postpartum period of pregnancy. This includes students who:
deliver live, aborted or stillborn baby
suffer a miscarriage or death of a newborn or
place a baby up for adoption
Eligibility for Funding - Students who are eligible for average daily attendance (ADA) and who are eligible for PRS Program services are eligible for funding under the PRS program beginning on the dates services begin.
End of Eligibility - Eligibility for PRS ends when the student returns from postpartum confinement to resume her regular classes at a school campus.
Dilean Coward
CEHI Teacher
Phone: 361-788-9673
Ext. 36205
Desmond Johnson
PRS Mentor
Phone: 361-788-9673
Ext.36211
Vanessa Wiethorn
PRS Mentor
Phone: 361-788-9673
Ext.36210
Sarah Benitez
PRS Mentor
Phone: 361-788-9673
Ext.36204
The Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) Transition Mentor facilitates the successful transition of delinquent youth entering, between, or out of secure settings to support education or employment. The office is located at Family Connection Center/KIDZConnection office.
TBD
Title I, Part D Transition Mentor
Phone: 361-788-9673
Ext. 36301