Permanency Planning

Permanency planning is the process of assessing and preparing a child for long term care when in out-of-home placements such as kinship, foster care or institutions. A care plan must centre on what is in the child’s best interests, and therefore requires an ongoing assessment of the child and her needs. A guardian may be appointed as a further protection of a child’s rights.

The ultimate goal of permanency planning is to ensure a secure environment with lifelong bonds that will support the child into adulthood. For most children this will be provided by their birth parents and relatives, and therefore family reunification should be the primary goal. Where reunification is not possible or suitable for the child, adoption or Islamic kafalah is usually the next best option since it offers more stability and enables the child to develop a lasting attachment to carers.

Each child is an individual and brings a unique set of requirements. The choice of placement must therefore consider the child’s cultural and religious background, abilities and any special needs, attachments to significant people and how such relationships can be maintained, their education, health and overall development. Ideally, children should be kept close to their original communities in order help maintain their identity and to reduce disruption to their everyday lives.

While short term care such as fostering can provide a safe place for a child and time to assess their needs, it is often an unsuitable long term option since it is a temporary arrangement that is prone to breakdown. Social workers or other child protection paraprofessionals in the community must determine the use of short term care and the development of longer term plans with the full participation of the child, birth family, and prospective caretakers, providing opportunities for contact with each other, and preparing all for moves.

All placements should be monitored regularly to ensure the child is safe and his/her physical, emotional, and educational needs are met. This includes children who have been recently returned to their birth family or who are newly placed with adoptive parents. Monitoring enables the provision of family support services, and helps to reduce placement breakdown and incidences of abuse.

The resources in this section focus on the factors that should be considered when planning a child’s care, and the advantages and disadvantages of placement options.

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A Randomized Controlled Trial of Family Finding

Sharon Vandivere, Karin E. Malm, Tiffany J. Allen, Sarah Catherine Williams and Amy McKlindon - Evaluation Review, 2017

The present study tested whether family finding, as implemented in North Carolina from 2008 through 2011, improved child welfare outcomes for youth at risk of emancipating foster care without permanency.

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Making parents pay: The unintended consequences of charging parents for foster care

Maria Cancian, Steven T. Cook, Mai Seki and Lynn Wimer - Children and Youth Services Review, 12 Oct 2016

This study examines whether requiring parents to pay child support to offset the costs of foster care delays children's permanent placement, whether through reunification with a parent, adoption, or guardianship.

Participants’ Satisfaction With Family Involvement Meetings: Implications for Child Welfare Practice

Haksoon Ahn, Samantha Hartzel, Terry Shaw - Research on Social Work Practice, 07 Sep 2016

This study evaluates one mid-Atlantic state’s implementation of a FGDM called family involvement meetings (FIMs) to improve family strengths and their active engagement in the service planning process.

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Guidelines on Children's Reintegration

Inter-agency group on children's reintegration - Emily Delap and Joanna Wedge, 07 Sep 2016

These Guidelines build on several existing care policies, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Displays of parent suitability in adoption assessment reports

Judith Lind and Cecilia Lindgren - Child and Family Social Work, 08 Jul 2016

This paper analyzes the concluding sections of assessment reports on applicants for intercountry adoption in Sweden to answer the following question: what must be said about an individual or a couple in order for her/them to be seen as a suitable adoptive parent?

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Preserving relationships and maintaining social capital:the experiences of young people living in foster care in the United Kingdom

Justin Rogers - Youth Divide and Youth Inclusion, 25 Jun 2016

This paper presents findings from a doctoral project that explored the experiences of young people growing up in foster care in the United Kingdom.

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Home on a Care Order: Who the Children are and What the Care Order is for

Montserrat Fargas-Malet, Dominic McSherry, John Pinkerton, and Greg Kelly -- Child & Family Social Work, 07 Jun 2016

Compared to children in other placements, there is much less known about the characteristics and needs of children in the UK who are returned to their birth parents with a care order still in place.

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The complexities of cultural support planning for Indigenous children in and leaving out-of-home care: the views of service providers in Victoria, Australia

Susan Baidawi, Philip Mendes and Bernadette J. Saunders - Child and Family Social Work, 19 Apr 2016

This exploratory research involved focus group consultations with seven child and family welfare agencies to investigate the impacts, barriers, benefits and limitations of cultural support planning for Indigenous young people in, and leaving care in, Victoria.

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Data-Driven Decision Making: Video Series

James Bell Associates, 2016

This three-part video series shows how a fictional organization, Greene County Department of Human Services, set out to improve permanency for children and youth by increasing the number of available foster and adoptive homes using data-driven decision making (DDDM).

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Systematic Review of Kinship Care Effects on Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being Outcomes

Marc A. Winokur, Amy Holtan, Keri E. Batchelder - Research on Social Work Practice, 31 Dec 2015

This systematic review evaluated the effect of kinship care placement compared to foster care placement on the safety, permanency, and well-being of children removed from the home for maltreatment.

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