The Possibility of Permanency in Foster Care

Foster care was never intended to be a permanent home for youth separated from family members through no fault of their own.  The goal was reconnection with their parents and family members.  However, as stated in an earlier post, many foster youth spend years in state care and are never reunified with family members.  In these cases, youth have aged out of the system with limited or no support.  Support previously provided for housing, finances, health, and education terminated at the age of 18 and some youth found themselves in independent living programs or on their own.

Although these programs were thought to help, they have been proven to be inadequate in preparing youth for independence.  The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoption Act of 2008 mandated that youth leaving foster care must leave through safe reunification with their parents, adoption, guardianship or “another planned permanent living arrangement” (Avery, 2010).  The Act provides an option of extending financial support to kin providers and older youth.  Mandates for notifying kin, analyzing kin foster care, and explaining foster care benefits and requirements to kin are also included in the bill, but until recently little attention was paid to acquiring permanence for youth or post foster care.  The lack of social support was evident.

J. S. Coleman (2009) termed “social capital” as a way to describe the complex social support system—fundamental foundation—for foster youth.  This “social capital” includes parents, family members and other adults in their lives that help youth achieve positive outcomes.  Social capital is important in helping youth develop a social trust, which is important in developing acceptable behavioral social patterns. A trustworthy social network is important for youth who are emerging into adulthood because family relationships influence their psychological development. Independent living programs was designed to prepare youth aging out of foster care to connect to caring adults who could provide support, but it is well documented that these types of programs have failed.

Youth in foster care as well as foster care alumni desire permanence.  Permanence is considered a core need.  This need includes reliable, lifelong parenting relationships as well as maintaining contact with family and other important people in their lives. Along with this need is the need for independence.  For youth exiting out of care who do not achieve permanence, they are faced with incomplete education, significant health problems, are unemployed or underemployed and socially isolated.

One project, the “Permanent Parents for Teens” conducted to find permanence for youth is considered successful.  The project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau was designed to find permanent adoptive parents for adoptive teens or committed permanent parents to morally adopt teens not freed for adoption but in danger of discharge from foster care to homelessness.  The project, conducted in New York City, focused on a child-specific recruitment approach called Permanency Action Recruitment Teams (PART).  The project accepted referrals and PART meetings were attended by teens and all involved in their lives. Family permanency advocates led the meetings and also worked with teens to identify potentially permanent resources in their lives, reaching out to them and other relatives not previously considered.  Of the 199 teens referred to the program, 98 were placed into permanent homes by the end of the project.   

Based on the success of this project and similar types where family members have been located and reunited with youth in foster care, permanency is more than possible, it is a reachable goal for youth in foster care.