Meeting the educational needs of students in child protective services custody residing at one emergency youth shelter

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to look at the educational needs of youth who are in the custody of the State of Oklahoma because of abuse and/or neglect issues from the perspective of the youth themselves as well as the teachers who had been hired to teach them. All participants in the study were either students in an emergency youth shelter that provides emergency services to abused and/or neglected youth or were educational instructors at the emergency youth shelter's school site. Observation and interviewing of the four shelter students, one current instructor, and three former shelter instructors were used to test major assumptions.

Findings and Conclusions: The educational needs of students in the custody of the state are not being met at the Loma County Youth Shelter site or at the regular public school site. Shelter education lacks the material, equipment and space that students need to learn. Shelter students are educated by the shelter instructor for three hours a day only. Shelter education was found to be significantly different from other forms of public education. The youth appeared to have many concerns that affected their educational experiences and were not responding to educational interventions. Placement issues such as frequent moves to new foster homes, a lack of educational advocacy, and mental health concerns were main factors in disrupted educational experiences. Shelter instructors also appeared frustrated by the differences in educational services between youth taught at the Shelter and those who were not.