Navigating the foster care system can be daunting for children.

Moving away from parents and siblings — even if it is to a more secure place — can be emotionally difficult. It also can lead to misinformation and missed opportunities for the 27,700 children in the state’s foster care system if they don’t know their rights.

Two bills that recently passed the Legislature should make that journey easier. The Children in Foster Care Act, sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne County, will compile the rules and regulations governing the foster care system to make certain every child and caregiver understands them.

If signed into law by the governor, as expected, foster children, foster parents and birth parents would be notified that children, for example, have the right to contact their attorney or guardian when needed, they should receive notice of their court hearings, know that they may not have to move to a different school, have access to health services, consent to mental health treatment, permission to follow their religious observances and the ability to visit with their family, including siblings.

Too many times children in foster care do not know what their rights are because no one tells them. Considering the state has the responsibility to do what is best for these children, that is unacceptable.

Some former foster children who met with the editorial board months ago said they were not notified about court dates and never knew they could visit their siblings. The notion behind the measure is not that social workers, foster parents and attorneys are necessarily hiding things from foster children. They themselves might not know or understand all the services and responsibilities involved.

But misunderstandings or omissions of information can be life-altering. For example, some children have been forced to leave a school because they move from one foster home to another when they could have stayed. Some teens are told that when they turn 18 they have to leave the foster care system. This is not the case. If they choose to stay, teens can remain part of the system — and have all-important health insurance — until they turn 21.

Not knowing their rights, especially that they can stay in the system three years longer, can be devastating to a teenager. One in four children who age out of foster care are homeless at some point. Some end up not graduating from high school, others end up in prison.

Sadly, it depends on what county children live in as to whether they are told about certain services to which they are entitled. That must change.

The other bill on the governor’s desk, and sponsored by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Bucks County, would provide children in foster care with a chance to have a voluntary post-adoption contract agreement put in place between their adoptive and birth parents.

Too many times children who have the opportunity to become part of a permanent family are resistant because they don’t want to terminate their relationship with their birth parents. Under this measure they are not forced to choose between one or the other. A similar agreement is already in place in 23 states.

Neither of these changes costs the state extra funds to implement, but they can make a huge difference for children who need and deserve it.