Legal Issue - Research Paper Example

There may be any number of reasons for which the parents, or the single parent, may be unable to educate their child (No Child Left Behind). The aim and purpose of NCLB is to ensure the child's education through primary and secondary schools. This aim and purpose is accomplished in case the parents are doing well together. However, social conditions now are such that there are increasing numbers of single parent managing a child or children. There are also cases where either both or one of the parents are drug addicts.

In such cases, it becomes difficult for the child to study. His concentration level is low and he is disturbed. The law steps in to take charge of the child in case there is nobody else among close relatives to look after the child. After the parents, the next person closer to the child is the teacher. The teacher understands the strength and weakness of the child being entrusted with the responsibility of teaching and guiding the child. In the circumstance, it is also necessary for the teacher to keep herself abreast the laws that govern her relationship with the child.

No two children are equal. And there are children who may have behavioral problems and/or problems connected to their studies. Also, there are children who live in the regular family with their parents and there are children who live in the care of foster parents. . The teacher who is knowledgeable about the legal requirements and implications in bringing up a child has an edge over the teacher who has no knowledge about the legal necessities. Laws can be powerful tools to meet the educational needs of children in foster care.

However, like any tools, if the teacher does not know how to use them, they do not provide much help. This does not imply that the teacher has to be so conversant with law that she is as good as any practicing lawyer. But it does mean that she must have enough knowledge to understand the child welfare system so that the educational need of the child is better served.The teacher must take special care to understand that children in foster care receive the same right to education as all children, understand what laws have specific provisions for children in foster care, teenage girls who become pregnant before completing high school cannot be segregated in special programs and they cannot be excluded from school entirely.

Moreover, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Acts (FERPA) of 1974 provides rights to parents to inspect and review their child's education records maintained by the school, to a hearing challenging what is in the student's education record, and to not have education records released to third parties without the written consent of the parent.Most states provide for criminal sanctions for parents whose children do not attend school within the required ages. Secondly, federal laws related to education have financial incentives attached to encourage state compliance in educating the children of their state (Child Law Practice).

The child and the stateThe role of parents or foster parents becomes secondary in the matter of educating the child. This is not to say that the role of