School-related problems of special education foster-care students with emotional or behavioral disorders: A comparison to other groups

A high percentage of children in foster care receive special education services, hut little is known about the academic and social problems found in this: population. Searches of school archival records and brief interviews with school personnel were used to obtain measures of the school-related problems of four groups of students: chose receiving both foster care and special education for emotional or behavioral disorders (FCED), foster care only (FC), special education only (ED), or neither (N). Group FCED was found to exhibit more school-related problems and Group N to exhibit fewer problems than the comparison groups; Groups FC and ED did not differ significantly. Suggestions for further research and implications for developing comprehensive, collaborative systems of care are discussed.