View Materials From Our Webinar, The Uninterrupted Scholars Act: Promising Information-Sharing Practices
On November 14, 2013, Juvenile Law Center Supervising Attorney Jessica Feierman facilitated a national webinar, "The Uninterrupted Scholars Act: Promising Information-Sharing Practices."
The webinar State Policy Advocacy and Reform Center (SPARC) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, together with the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education (a collaboration of the American Bar Association, Juvenile Law Center, and Education Law Center-PA). It covered a range of topics, from why information sharing is necessary to research on educational outcomes of foster youth to on-the-ground practices for how to share information across education, child welfare, and court systems.
View a recording of this webinar below and download the PowerPoint here.
[video:http://youtu.be/B0IpvP1sMlM]
Background on the Uninterrupted Scholars Act
In January 2013, President Obama signed into law the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, which amends the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to allow for better information sharing between child welfare and education workers.
The USA Act makes it easier for case workers to gain access to school records, and allows them to disclose the information for the limited purpose of assisting a child in obtaining the educational services he or she needs. The USA Act strikes a good balance, allowing schools to share information in a targeted way with child welfare agencies, while still protecting family rights and student confidentiality.
Read more about this legislation here.