California's 77,000 foster kids, taken away from their families because of neglect or abuse, face a life of frequent moves and school changes.
As if life wasn't hard enough for these kids, the California Interscholastic Federation makes it even harder. For purposes of playing high school sports, the federation does not considered it "valid change of residence" if a foster child transfers from one school to another because of a court order.
To the CIF, a transfer is valid only if a student and his or her full immediate family, and all their possessions, move from one place to another. Foster children don't count since they have no "immediate family."
The aim of the rule is to prevent abuses – such as those who set up fake or only temporary addresses to play for a particular team.
But, as written, the rule unreasonably targets foster children, who are forced to file paperwork for a "hardship" transfer.
The injustice of the current rule is revealed in the case of Dalton Dyer, a standout running back for Placer High School. In foster care his whole life, he's been moved around by various court orders between Oakland, Auburn and Vallejo. Since August, he has lived with an aunt in Auburn.
When a rival school challenged his eligibility to play, CIF Commissioner Pete Saco ruled that Dyer's paperwork was improper, declared him ineligible to play and forced his team to forfeit four wins that would have secured a playoff berth. An appeal was denied, but fortunately a judge on Monday ruled in favor of Placer High.
That helps one foster kid, but the CIF needs to rewrite its rules to treat foster children as a "family of one." Then when courts order those children to move, those moves would be "valid changes of residence" and the kids wouldn't have to file "hardship" paperwork.
The CIF also should simply require foster kids to notify the federation of their current residence.
Foster kids face enough obstacles in life. They don't need this barrier to playing high school sports.
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