OLYMPIA, WA – A nonprofit organization helping foster children in Washington graduate from high school just saw its state funding chopped.

In the current two-year budget, which runs through June 30, services offered by the group, called Treehouse, were expanded. But the spending plan Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Tuesday includes cuts that are equal to a third of the group’s overall budget.

Graduation rates for foster children are the lowest among public school students in the state. However, rates increased from 36% to 53% in the past decade, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Cuts to the nonprofit could undermine this progress, leaders of the group say.

Foster children often face high levels of instability and uncertainty, which can include parents with mental health or substance abuse issues. This often contributes to them performing poorly in school when it comes to attendance, grades, test scores and graduation rates, said Dawn Rain, CEO of Treehouse.

At times, students can change schools multiple times a year. Every time they switch schools, they can lose up to six months of academic progress.

“I always say it’s really hard to worry about your math test this week if you don’t know if you’re going to see your mom,” Rain said.

Treehouse has two grants from the state. One with the Department of Children, Youth and Families and the other with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In the current two-year budget, the Legislature allocated funding to support eighth graders in foster care as they transition to high school because the organization was seeing that a large group of students were being lost before they got to ninth grade.

Confronted with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit over the next four years, the Legislature reduced funding for one Treehouse grant and cut the other entirely.

The grant from the Department of Children, Youth and Families was reduced from roughly $1.1 million to $660,000 a year. This grant funded educational advisors who worked alongside caseworkers at the department to ensure educational stability for foster children.

The advisors advocate for students to stay in the same school and help smooth transitions between schools when needed. They also assist with the transfer of education records, class placements and special education access.

The entire $7 million a year grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction was cut. This grant allowed the nonprofit’s advisors to meet weekly with students at school and work on attendance, academics, and behavioral issues to increase graduation rates.

This staff provided students with social and emotional support and guidance and sometimes became the single, stable adult in a child’s life due to high turnover rates with caseworkers, foster families, and schools.

Services from Treehouse are available to students in any school district in the state. The organization currently serves between 60% and 70% of foster children in the state and works in almost half of the school districts across Washington.

While foster students only make up 1% to 2% of the student population, it can be hard for schools to pay close attention to their specific needs. Without support, they are more likely to end up unemployed, in poverty, homeless, or incarcerated.

The loss of funding could lead the nonprofit to scale back services and potentially lay off staff. Funding for the affected programs will run through the rest of this academic year but will stop on July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.

“​​Our students are so highly mobile, they change placements a lot,” Rain said. “When we have services statewide, if a student moves across the state, we can kind of catch them.”

Staff are located in child welfare offices or in school buildings across the state. Students who work with the organization for more than two years have a graduation rate close to 70%.

“If we have this limited footprint, some of that is not going to be possible,” Rain said.

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