By Jennifer Bloom and Sally Revak

Because of the importance of foster care in the lives of many young people, this lesson from the LegalWays curriculum looks at foster care from the perspective of a child in foster care, including a description of the specific rights that youth in foster care have.  The Case Plan activity asks the students to analyze three cases looking at the reasons for the foster care, the attempts to correct the problems, the services that might help, and what needs to be done to return the child home. Lesson includes a student reading about the law including guiding questions. Although the lesson uses Minnesota law, it can be adapted.

Objectives

• Students will understand the function of the people involved in the juvenile protection area.
• Students will learn about the legal rights and responsibilities of parents and children.
• Students will understand the various ways in which the juvenile system attempts to take of care of juveniles and their families.

Time to Complete

One class period

Materials Needed

• LegalWays Curriculum Overview ^[1]
• Juvenile Protection Teaching Guide ^[2]
• Student Handout Children in Foster Homes ^[3]

Procedure

See Juvenile Protection Teaching Guide