There is no restriction on who can apply on behalf of a student, but there can only be one application per student. Whomever completes the application must be able to provide accurate information about the child (i.e., date of birth, grade, guardian’s residential address, school selections), and must be able to receive and act on notifications regarding that application. The person that submits the application should provide the legal guardian with a copy of the submitted application for their records. A foster parent (commonly referred to as “resource parent” in DC) does not have sole decision-making authority to decide on or change a school placement for the child in their care. For further guidance on education decision-making, foster or resource parents can consult Chapter 9 of the Resource Parent Handbook issued by the Child and Family Services Agency (“CFSA”), using this link.

Youth in foster care who are in transition should use their most stable address on the My School DC application; this can be either their current address (if they don’t know where they’ll be placed) or the address they know they’ll have by the common enrollment deadline, when decisions on lottery choices have to be made.

The in-boundary school for a child in foster care is based on the DC address of the birth parent or caregiver who formerly had custody of the youth. To identify the child’s in-boundary school, simply visit the School Finder, enter the child’s former DC address and it will pull up the child’s in-boundary schools. If you don’t have the prior address, please contact the child’s social worker for guidance.

Please contact the schools you are interested in for further details on how they define sibling for the purpose of sibling preference. Children living in the same household are not necessarily eligible to receive sibling preference at a school. 

The decision whether to accept a lottery match and where to enroll a child in school, is reserved for the “parent” or individual with the authority to make educational decisions for the child. For a child in foster care, those rights generally remain with the child’s birth parent unless: 1) their rights have been terminated by the court, 2) an alternative education decision-maker has been assigned to the child by the court, or 3) the child was newly placed in foster care or recently changed foster homes and the social worker is given the authority to make a best interest determination about where the child should attend school after consulting with other individuals that know the child. At no time should a child’s foster or resource parent accept a lottery match or enroll a child in a new school without consulting with the child’s social worker and other team members.

As a DC foster parent, you do not have to prove DC residency. All DC youth in foster care or “wards of the state” are residents of the District and entitled to enroll in and attend DC public schools. During the enrollment process, you must provide a copy of the child’s “ward letter” that you received from the foster care agency when that child was placed in your home. Please note: if the ward letter has the child’s social security number on it, please black it out before submitting it to the school to protect the child from identity theft. The school is not permitted to require a student’s social security number for enrollment.