Competencies:

  • Teachers should be able to maintain cooperative consultative relationships with other professionals in inclusive and special education.
  • Teachers should understand how to support students who are in foster care.

 

Due to my experience supporting children in care as an Education Assistant (EA), I wanted to explore how social workers are connected to both a school’s and teacher’s role in supporting students in care. Furthermore, this topic was something I chose to learn about because in the first class of EDIE 4100, ‘People First Language’ was discussed regarding children in care, and I wanted to be more inclusive to these students. I also wanted to look into working with students in care, as in our final class in a Breakout Room my group reviewed a case study about a student in foster care.

This made me start to think about how to support and be inclusive of students who are in care for short or long term periods, which made me decide to connect with a social worker and interview her. Please, see my reflection below the interview video clip.

Questions:

  1. How can schools be incorporated into collaboratively supporting families receiving family service supports?
  2. In way ways are schools/teachers included in care plans and transition planning for children in care?
  3. If a child in care has an exceptionality and is in care, how does this influence the process of care planning?

Permission Form:

Natasha’s form-Interview 

Interview Recording:

Reflection:

 I reached out to Natasha Thys, a child protection social worker at SCW’Exmx Child & Family Services Society. Natasha’s comments taught me about how social workers are connected to schools, and new information on how to support children in care. 

Throughout the interview, I found it interesting to learn that when social workers attend meetings at school they may form a circle and plan the needs and supports a student requires. Natasha referred to this as the “circle of people” the student needs, and I thought it was a great approach (N. Thys, personal communication, November 8, 2020). She explained these meetings are the main ways in which teachers and schools help students in care as it is when care plans and supports are recommended, discussed, and determined. 

I also learned about the importance of educators connecting with social workers. This is something I will strive to learn more about and aim to do as a teacher. Natasha mentioned it is very helpful when social workers are involved with the school as a large part of the child’s day is spent there(N. Thys, personal communication, November 8, 2020). Natasha also discussed how it helps when social workers are invited to connect with the school because then student(s) in care can have further support implemented at the school (N. Thys, personal communication, November 8, 2020).

I also connected with Natasha’s comment on the importance of consistency and a whole-team attitude when helping students in care, because as EA this is the same case for any student who needs extra support (N. Thys, personal communication, November 8, 2020). Knowing this, I was surprised to learn that in Natasha’s experience there is a gap between social workers connecting with schools/teachers regarding children in care. Where I worked as an EA I had seen social workers attend planning meetings more than once, so I had assumed this was a normal practice.

Finally, after some more reflection, I decided to ask Natasha more about her comment of social workers acting as legal guardians to children in care, as I was curious what this meant for teachers. She informed me that this means any permission slips, or medical forms, must be signed by the child’s social worker (N. Thys, personal communication, November 8, 2020).Thus, as a teacher, it is important to know and plan for the fact that it takes extra time to send a child’s form to their social worker.

Overall, my interview with Natasha taught me how social workers connect with the school system. I also learned why this connection helps support students who are in care. Lastly, the interview taught me specific things I will need to consider if I have children in care in my future classrooms.Â