Please choose three of the following unique familial circumstances and discuss why they may influence education: parental separation or divorce, homelessness, parents with disabilities, teenage parents, migrant families, foreign-born or immigrant families, and military families.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Parental separation or divorce: The school needs to understand which parent has physical custody (if they don’t share physical custody) and which parent has legal custody (again, if they don’t share legal custody). Educational decisions fall under the provisions of legal custody. It is important for the educator to take the parents’ relationship with each other into account when planning conferences or sending information home with the student.
Homelessness: Students who are experiencing homelessness may be hungry or malnourished, may have poor hygiene, may not have the resources to complete their homework, may be chronically fatigued due to lack of sleep, and may experience emotional distress due to the situation.
Parents with disabilities: Children may or may not be aware if their parents have disabilities. Schools need to include parents in their children’s education, regardless of their possible limitations. A child may worry about a parent with a disability and this may impact her educationally.
Teenage parents: It is important for the school to distinguish who are the custodial parents in charge of the child’s education. If the teenage parents are, then the school needs to involve them in the decision-making for the child’s education, regardless of whether the teenage parents live with the child’s grandparents and those grandparents want to have a say in the child’s education.
Migrant families: Children in migrant families often change schools frequently and it is important to consider the impact that different school systems may have on a child’s learning. Accommodations may need to be made for children to ensure that they are getting the best from their educational experiences.
Foreign-born or immigrant families: Children who are foreign born or whose parents are foreign born may have cultural or language differences that may need to be addressed within the school system. The school needs to make every effort to include the parents in educational decisions, regardless of possible language barriers or cultural differences. If the student is being evaluated for a disability, it is necessary that the student receive a nondiscriminatory evaluation in whatever language is appropriate for him or her. Parents also need to understand their rights and what they are consenting to before an evaluation may commence.
Military families: The family may relocate frequently. One or more parents may be deployed for prolonged periods of time, and their child(ren) may be living with one parent or a guardian. Children may be afraid for the safety of their parents.