Sophia's Story

Sophia is a foster kid with big dreams.  She dreams of going to college one day.  But she has a medical condition that keeps her out of school more often than most kids, so she needs extra support in and out of school.  Fortunately she’s got a big support team – a hospital case manager, social worker, caregivers, and now a Treehouse Advocate.

When Sophia was in middle school, she had a special education plan that allowed her to attend school for four hours per day.  But this bright and motivated child wanted to attend full days in high school and her hospital case manager thought she’d benefit from the experience.  Her team was a little concerned that this would be too much for her, but in the end they decided to give her the chance.  To create a situation where Sophia would be successful in school all day would require a lot of coordination among highly trained and specialized staff as well as people who had no special training.  To make all of this work Sophia’s team called on Treehouse’s educational advocacy program.

Our educational advocate worked with Sophia’s team, teachers, school administrators, and the school nurse to ensure that her schedule and her medical condition could be managed well.  So, it seemed, she was all set to attend a full day of high school.  Sophia was excited to give it a try and hopeful that this was her path to college.

Only, over the summer, Sophia had to change homes and that meant a change of school as well.  Her Treehouse advocate was there for her.  The advocate got the team back together, scheduled all of the necessary meetings with the new school, and worked with Sophia’s social worker to provide all of the appropriate medical information so they could create a full day schedule that would work for Sophia.  A 504 accommodation plan was put into place and all of Sophia’s teachers fully understood, and were supportive of, her plans and needs.  She was placed in the AVID program, which is designed to help college bound students.  Sophia is now earning all A’s and B’s and has had relatively few absences related to her medical condition.  She’s enjoying school and looks forward to fulfilling her dreams of going to college.

To learn more about Treehouse Educational Advocacy click here