WA Best Practices: Immediate Enrollment for Children and Youth in Foster Care

 This WA state primer contains several key topics to help schools ensure the immediate enrollment of students in foster care: the federal legal framework of educational stability, definitions of immediate and enrollment (i.e., “as soon as practicable (e.g., within 3 business days) to avoid educational discontinuity. It also addresses the scope of record requests and timing of transfers (i.e., within 2 business days). A student is not fully enrolled if a student is not attending school or fully participating in classes, extracurricular activities, and out-of-school and summer opportunities.”), and enrollment strategies to reduce barriers and increase full participation in school, including the critical roles of local foster care liaisons.