The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    VAN CLEAVE: A Thanksgiving message from Russia's spy agency

  • National

    HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure

  • World

    Thailand seeks U.S. help battling insurgents

  • Politics

    Obama taking emissions goal to summit

  • Business

    Retailers bank on post-holiday Black Friday

  • World

    Corruption stain puts Pakistan leader at risk

  • Politics

    Courage the turkey escapes Obama's plate

Home » Culture » Family & Kids

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Vouchers benefit foster children

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Family & Kids Stories

  • Zadzooks: Plastic Man: The Complete Collection, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Complete Season One
  • Video Game Bytes: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
  • CPSC: Agency too slow on crib safety
  • Drop-side cribs recalled after 4 infant deaths

By Stuart Butler

More than a half-million children are in foster care. By definition, they've had it tough.

Social service agencies hesitate to remove children from their natural homes absent unmistakable signs of truly serious problems, such as neglect or abuse.

Child-welfare professionals recognize that, even when they extricate children from deeply troubled home situations and place them in protective, supportive foster homes, the change takes a toll on the children. It tears the little ones away from all that is familiar — neighborhoods, friends and entire social networks — at a critical time in their development.

Often, such gut-wrenching changes keep coming. Once in the system, children typically face one or two changes in placement each year. Nearly one in five foster children remains in care for three years or more. Such disruption increases the probability of later social problems.

Typically, a change of address also forces foster children to change schools. That alone can jeopardize their future. Studies show that children who experience frequent disruptions in their education are more likely to perform below grade level.

A recent survey of education research conducted for the Pew Charitable Trusts confirms that poor performance in school makes it harder to climb the economic ladder in later life. So the education disruption common in foster care can lead to lasting economic as well as social problems for these children.

To deal with the problem, some education experts advocate using vouchers to enable foster children to stay in the same schools even when their home placements change.

Under this approach, a foster child would be able to stay enrolled at his or her current public school, even if the new foster home is located outside the school's service boundaries. The voucher payments would go to the school teaching the child.

Vouchers also could be used to help children attending private schools before entering foster care to continue in those familiar classrooms.

Granted, education vouchers have been highly controversial when proposed as a general remedy for underperforming schools. But the political polarization frequently triggered by these broad proposals has been muted considerably when this far narrower application of vouchers has been suggested.

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
More Top Stories »
  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. D.C. sports icon, Wizards owner Pollin dies
  3. List of W.H. state dinner guests
  4. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  5. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  4. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  5. The global-cooling cover-up
More Top Stories »
  1. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  2. EDITORIAL: Kennedy vs. Catholicism
  3. The United Socialist States of America
  4. VAN CLEAVE: A Thanksgiving message from Russia's spy agency
  5. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general
  5. Ky. hanging, ruled a suicide, leaves bloggers at loss for words
More Top Stories »
  1. Obama to attend Denmark climate summit
  2. A-listers, fundraisers at W.H. state dinner
  3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  4. EDITORIAL: Kennedy vs. Catholicism
  5. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Did you travel out of town to see relatives this Thanksgiving?

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Blades downgraded

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.