Facilitating Permanency For Youth Joan M. Morse National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning

Permanency for Youth They’re always talking about this Permanency stuff. You know social workers...lawyers... always using these big social work terms to talk about simple things. One day one of them finally described what she meant by permanency. After I listened to her description, which was the first time anyone ever told me what the term meant, I said, “Oh, that’s what you mean? Yeah, I want permanency in my life. I don’t think I ever had that! When can I get it?” Foster care youth

Permanency is an enduring relationship that Is safe and meant to last a lifetime Offers the legal rights and social status of full family membership Provides for physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual well-being Assures lifelong connections to extended family, siblings, other significant adults, family history and traditions, race and ethnic heritage, culture, religion and language. From “ A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood. April 2005.

Elements of Youth Permanency The involvement of the youth as a participant or leader in the process. A permanent connection with at least on committed adult who provides a safe, stable and secure parenting relationship, love, unconditional commitment, lifelong support, a legal relationship if possible; and

Elements of Youth Permanency The opportunity to maintain contacts with important persons, including siblings. Models Programs on Youth Permanency. California Permanency Project and California Permanency for Youth Task Force.

Pathways to Permanency for Youth Youth are reunified safely with their parents or relatives Youth are adopted by relatives or other families Youth permanently reside with relatives or other families as legal guardians Youth are connected to permanent resources via fictive kinship or customary adoption networks Youth are safely placed in another planned alternative permanent living arrangement which is closely reviewed for appropriateness every six months

The Concept of Permanency for Youth No one would argue with the idea that all children and adolescents deserve a legal, permanent family to call their own. But finding permanence for an adolescent is often in direct conflict with normative adolescent developmental tasks. Developmentally, adolescents are separating from adults and trying to determine their own identities, their own values, make their own decisions, and ultimately create separation from their families.

The Concept of Permanency for Youth Separation from foster care is scary. Fear is frequently masked in a rebelliousness that is often viewed negatively by adults. Rebellion usually is a rejection of anything adults view as valuable. This is part of the challenge experienced in working with any teenager. Helping adolescents understand the value of permanence is difficult at best.

The Concept of Permanency for Youth Adolescents tend to operate in the realm of concrete thinking and permanence is, at best an abstract idea. How a teen feels about their current situation will influence their decisions. For many foster youth, previous experiences clue them to the fact that some families are not permanent. Permanency goals can be viewed as abstractions in themselves by youth who may view them as constructs being developed by adults and agencies. This is especially true when youth are not involved in the direct planning of their own permanency goals.

Reconceptualizing Permanency for Youth Many enduring lessons have been drawn from studies, namely: That permanency needs to be reconceptualized to include a broad range of options for adolescents. Ongoing and meaningful connections with family and important adults in their lives are particularly important. For this reason, those working with youth need to simultaneously seek stability for the young person, and nurture ongoing relationships between teens and important people in their lives—siblings, other birth relatives, foster families, fictive kin, and mentors. Every young person in foster care should be able to identify at a minimum, one permanent connection.

Barriers to Youth Permanency Barrier #1: Permanency planning for adolescents is not a priority. There is limited understanding of and lack of training for staff regarding permanency planning for adolescents. Barrier #2: Sequential case management, rather than concurrent planning continues to be the dominant method of practice. Barrier #3: There is a dearth of permanent families available for older youth. Barrier #4: Family members and others significant to the adolescent (fictive kin) often have limited involvement in the permanency planning process. Barrier #5: Programmatic and fiscal support for pre and post- placement support services have been insufficient to achieve permanency.

Lessons Learned About Youth Permanency Lesson #1: Permanency must be a priority for all youth, including older adolescents. Lesson #2: Termination of parental rights alone does not guarantee permanency for youth; concurrent planning to pursue multiple permanency options simultaneously is essential. Lesson #3: Family connections endure regardless of legal actions. Building on family strengths and making optimal use of positive connections is an important part of permanency planning. Lesson #4: We need to involve youth by utilizing positive youth development approaches and permit significant others to participate as key contributors in the permanency planning process.

Lessons Learned About Youth Permanency Lesson #5: A concurrent planning process can be developed to establish multiple permanency options for adolescents. Lesson #6: Efforts to achieve permanency must be supported through flexible and sufficient funding. Lesson #7: Effective recruitment of permanent families should occur at two levels: general recruitment and youth specific recruitment. Lesson #8: Staffing issues within public and private child welfare agencies have an impact on permanency planning.

Lessons Learned About Youth Permanency Lesson #9: Legal systems need to expand options for permanency, particularly for older youth. Lesson #10: Older youth in need of permanency bring both resilience and challenges. Services need to recognize both, engaging the youth in building realistic plans for the future. Lesson #11: We must monitor outcomes carefully at the case level and agency level, improving the capacity of management information systems to track progress toward permanency. Lesson #12: Permanency must be understood as a complex phenomenon, not simply as a legal status or placement category.

Supporting Permanency for Older Adolescents Through Positive Youth Development Approaches Mentoring Life Books Person Centered Planning Family Group Conferencing Digital Storytelling Appreciative Inquiry Family to Family Approaches Youth Empowerment Approaches

Involving Youth in Permanency Efforts Youth must be involved in the process and must have input Many youth do want to be adopted, even if they initially say no Youth need to be involved in recruitment efforts Youth need to be able to identify persons with whom they feel they have connections Youth need to work with professionals who understand them and enjoy working with them

Connectedness Charts DIMENSIONS OF CONNECTEDNESS: HEART: Who do you love? Who loves you? Who do you want to love you? MIND: Who teaches you? What are you learning? Who do you teach? Who do you think about?

Connectedness Charts BODY: Who shares your blood? Does anybody share your body? Who provides you with food and shelter? SOUL: To what or whom is your soul connected? What or who are your passions?

Connectedness Charts COLOR CODES FOR THE LINES RED is for the heart. GREEN is for the fertile and creative mind. BLUE is for the blood that runs in the veins (body). YELLOW is for the light of the soul.

FAMILY FINDING: SEARCH TOOLS Child Welfare Record Review Family Ancestry Chart Internet Sites for locating persons (Mormon Church) (deceased relative information)

FAMILY FINDING: SEARCH TOOLS Peopleprofileusa.com usatrace.com (search by name SS#) People-data.com Social Security Death Index Reunitetonight.com Myfamily.com Intelius.com

FAMILY FINDING: SEARCH TOOLS Prison Locater Services American Red Cross Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Inter-State Compact for the Placement of Children International Social Services (BALTIMORE – )

An Early Spring… for some of Illinois longest waiting children and youth The average Cook South teen in this project is:  African-American  Male  16 years old  Entered care at age 6  In care for 10 years  Parental rights terminated at 10  Legally free for 5 years Work by: Kevin A. Campbell Vice President of Strategic Planning and Service Innovation EMQ Children and Family Services

Lessons Learned:  It is never too late to look for family for a youth in care.  “Success will be achieved for more children if work is begun early in the case-both in terms of availability of family information and making the connection before the youth is damaged by years of changing placement and separation from family.” Legacy Project, Final Report State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Lessons Learned: “A significant finding of the Intensive Relative Search Project is that family is out there and willing to support youth in the child welfare system, even for young people who have been with us for over a decade and for whom there has been little contact.” Legacy Project, Final Report State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Breakthrough Series Collaborative Permanence For Young People

Purpose of the Framework This framework was developed and discussed at a national Experts Meeting co-sponsored on June 7-8, 2004 by the National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning at the Hunter College School of Social Work and Casey Family Services through the Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice.

Purpose of the Framework The organizing framework for the Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Permanence for Young People can guide child welfare agencies across the country to help young people achieve and maintain permanent family relationships. It neither prescribes nor recommends best practice models; rather, it proposes six key components of successfully identifying and supporting permanent family relationships for young people in out-of-home care.

Six Key Components 1.Empower young people through information, support, and skills (including independent living skills) to be fully involved partners in directing their own permanency planning and decision making.

Six Key Components 2.Empower a wide range of individuals to participate in permanency planning, beginning with birth family and including extended family, tribal members, past, present and future caregivers, other adults who are significant to the young person, other systems with whom young people are involved, and other community members.

Six Key Components 3. Consider, explore and implement a full range of permanency options in a timely and continuous way. 4. From the beginning, continuously and concurrently employ a comprehensive range of recruitment options.

Six Key Components 5. From the beginning of placement, provide services and supports to continuously ensure that young people and their families have every opportunity to achieve and maintain physical, emotional and legal permanence.

Six Key Components 6. Agencies collaborate with other systems that serve young people and families as true partners and to provide services, support and opportunities during and after placement. Document available at

Joan M. Morse National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning at the Hunter College School of Social Work A Service of the Children’s Bureau/ACF-DHHS 129 East 79th Street New York, New York (212) /direct; (212) /fax Website –