Answer: No. In light of the new ED guidance that came out on March 3, the foster care identification essentially supersedes the McKinney-Vento identification in this situation. The new guidance specifies that if a student qualified as “homeless” due to awaiting foster care placement prior to December 10, and then moves into permanent housing before December 10, the student should continue to be served by McKinney-Vento for the rest of the year. However, the guidance also states that a student who qualified as “homeless” due to awaiting foster care placement prior to December 10, and then is placed in foster care, should be served by Title I. The guidance question focuses on students “awaiting foster care placement,” but the answer equally applies to a student who is eligible as “homeless” under any part of the definition.
Here is an excerpt from question J-10:
“Beginning on December 10, 2016, those students who are awaiting foster care placement [eligible as “homeless”] under the McKinney-Vento Act and have been placed in foster care, will be covered under the foster care provisions in Title I of the ESEA.”