$1M grant gives Michigan foster kids rides to school as they switch homes
- Life in foster care can lack the structure that other youth take for granted
- That certainty and routine are critical to learning and mental well-being
- A new Michigan program provides reliable transportation to school, even if a foster youth moves to a new home outside the district
A new state program helps foster youth in metro Detroit remain in school and maintain crucial social connections, even if they are moved from home to home to home.
The three-year contract, $1 million a year, provides transportation to and from school and after-school activities through Los Angeles-based HopSkipDrive, a transportation company that supplements traditional bus routes.
The service was launched last month and is available to foster youth whose school of origin is in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
And a reliable ride can reap lifelong benefits.
Research has shown that moving from home to home, and therefore school to school, disrupts learning and social connections and activities crucial to development and can “erode a child’s or teen’s sense of self and overall health,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“We know that placement stability and children having that continuity in their community is critical to their emotional and social development,” Rachel Willis, director of the state’s Bureau of Out of Home Services for foster youth within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told Bridge Wednesday.
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When children move from school to school mid-year, school districts can’t easily or quickly adapt bus schedules to accommodate them. Moreover, many districts already face critical shortages of bus drivers, as Bridge previously reported.
A lack of reliable transportation for foster youth as they switch home addresses can contribute to chronic absenteeism. Last year, nearly 30% of Michigan K-12 students overall were chronically absent.
Before now, the state depended on foster parents, relative caregivers, volunteer drivers, rerouted school buses and other transportation services to keep foster youth at their home school, or “school of origin.” This is the first time for a dedicated transportation service for foster youth, said Lynn Sutfin, health department spokesperson.
The driving force
Made up of individual drivers and their own vehicles, HopSkipDrive is “nimble” enough to respond to a child’s movement and school schedule, deploying new routes in as little as six hours, said Cindy Hamilton, spokesperson for HopSkipRide.
The company has contracts with more than 600 school districts, government agencies and nonprofits in 13 states, Hamilton said. Among its clients are school districts and charter schools in the Detroit area and Grand Rapids.
HopSkipDrive drivers, who wear t-shirts clearly marked “CareDriver,” are vetted with background checks, fingerprinting and vehicle inspection. They also must have five years of caregiving experience, with two of those years with children. “Caregiving” is broadly defined and includes parenting, for example.
Hamilton wouldn’t say how many drivers are on contract already to drive for students in the three-county, metro Detroit area, but she called it an “army” and “more than dozens.”
The company has drivers in place to meet the current needs of Michigan youth, but she said HopSkipDrive continues to add drivers.
“These are parents, grandparents and babysitters who come to HopSkipDrive to support their communities and to support children,” Hamilton said. “A lot of the time, it’s former teachers.”
Rides will be set up by case managers. They will be paid for by general fund dollars and federal Title IV-E funds, which provide services for children removed from their homes because of suspected abuse or neglect.
It’s estimated that the contract will cover costs each year for 10,000 to 12,000 rides, said the health department’s Sutfin.
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