Associate Professor of Social Work Emily Bruce heads the SJSU Research Institute for Foster Youth Initiatives.
The SJSU Research Institute for Foster Youth Initiatives will coordinate, design, and implement research and evaluation for the Middle School Education Court, a new foster youth program launched by the Superior Court of California at Santa Clara County.
“It is not uncommon for older foster youth to be moved from home to home and thus, often from school to school,” said the Honorable Katherine Lucero, supervising judge of the Juvenile Dependency Court. “Foster youth don’t have the basic benefit of having a single committed adult involved in their education, monitoring their academic progress, attendance, supporting extracurricular activities and ensuring they receive an appropriate education.”
The MSEC program compiles current and past school records, conducts needs-assessment evaluations, develops educational plans and protocols in order to support middle school age children in foster care, with the goal of helping them realize their academic potential and attain success in their adult life. Expected outcomes of the court include improving overall academic performance, test scores, GPAs and attendance rates of Santa Clara County middle school foster youth.
The Honorable Teresa Guerrero-Daley presides over this new court and leads a team of professionals that include lawyers, social workers, education specialists, child advocates, school district liaisons and community leaders in implementing the MSEC — the first education-specific dependency court for middle school youth in the nation.
Compared to youngsters outside the foster care system, foster students are more likely to have higher rates of absenteeism, perform below grade level, be held back in school and twice as likely to drop out of high school. The MSEC has been established to change the current course that affects the approximately 1,300 children in foster care in Santa Clara County.
Headed by Associate Professor of Social Work Emily J. Bruce, the SJSU Research Institute for Foster Youth Initiatives is an organized research unit designed to investigate the concerns and issues of foster youth from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The institute includes faculty members from a number of departments, representing the SJSU College of Education, College of Applied Sciences and Arts, and College of Social Sciences. #