Foster Ed Connect, a free online community and resource clearinghouse for all people helping California's foster care children succeed in school, will launch April 22, 2010 at www.FosterEdConnect.org.

The community is a project of the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), the California Foster Youth Education Task Force, and the Stuart Foundation.

The website features a dynamic database of information that all adults working to support foster youth can use in their daily practice. There are resources devoted to a myriad of topics, including school enrollment and stability, state and federal legislation, dependency and juvenile court proceedings, and mental health. Foster Ed Connect also provides a forum for users to participate in conversations and ask questions of subject matter experts across the state. The website features local and statewide news and events.

The first site of its kind in the country, Foster Ed Connect was developed in response to a series of statewide focus groups and surveys administered by NCYL. This research shows that adults working with foster youth often find it difficult to locate the information and resources they need to help these children succeed in school. Foster Ed Connect allows a wide range of professionals to communicate, share their expertise, and access resources they need to improve the educational success of foster youth.

A free webinar will be held from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 22, the day of the launch. The webinar will explain how to take advantage of this resource.

If you would like to sign up for this webinar or have any questions about the site, please contact Novella Coleman at ncoleman(at)youthlaw.org.