Too often, barriers to obtaining student education records impede the ability of the child welfare system to address the educational needs of children in their custody. This problem contributes to the academic struggles of children in foster care by causing enrollment delays, inappropriate school placements, inadequate support services and lost course credits.

We the under-signed join the Education Law Center and Juvenile Law Center to urge the Department of Education to consider the proposed revisions to the regulations which would: create a specific exception to FERPA requirements by authorizing child welfare professionals to access education records; eliminate barriers to information sharing and facilitate data collection at the aggregate level; and ensure access to education records by surrogate parents appointed to represent children in foster care under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The complete comments to which we sign on are available at:
http://www.elc-pa.org/FERPAcomments.pdf

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