This research study found that the Georgia Permanency Roundtable project had been successful at finding safe and permanent families for more children and teenagers in foster care – including those who had little hope of ever securing a lifelong family.

The initial phase of the Georgia Permanency Roundtable project, which the department implemented in early 2009 in collaboration with Casey Family Programs, targeted nearly 500 cases involving children and teenagers – most from DeKalb and Fulton Counties – who were languishing in the foster care system for long periods of time.

What is a permanency roundtable?
A permanency roundtable brings together case workers, case supervisors and experts from inside and outside the department to deeply scrutinize a case and brainstorm ideas for achieving permanency for a child.

The intensive – and sometimes intense – process brings fresh perspectives to the table, ushering in new possibilities.

The main goal of the roundtables is to achieve legal permanency for children and teenagers in foster care. Legal permanency can be achieved through:

• Reunification with a birth parent or the family from which the child was removed.
• Adoption or guardianship with a relative or non-relative before the youth turns 18.

Results from Casey Family Programs’ study
The Casey Family Programs study evaluated the permanency status of the nearly 500 children and teenagers whose cases went through the roundtables, one year after the process was completed. The 12-month follow-up found that:

• 31 percent (153 children) had achieved legal permanency. Of those:
• 44 percent achieved it through guardianship.
• 29 percent through adoption.
• 27 percent through reunification.
• 49 percent (243) had an improved permanency status – that is, progress had been made on their paths toward permanency.

Why permanency matters
Casey Family Programs believes that while foster care sometimes can save a life, it never should be a way of life.

Finding safe and permanent families for all children and teenagers in foster care is a top priority of Casey Family Programs and the Georgia Department of Human Services.

Nationally, nearly 30,000 youth “age out” of the foster care system without being part of a permanent family. They often enter adulthood alone, ill-prepared to hold down a job or raise a healthy and successful family of their own.

A life in foster care often is one of uncertainty and loss, filled with changing families, schools, friends, neighborhoods and case workers. Often, these children are disconnected from siblings, relatives, their culture and any sense of security.

It is no wonder that children who grow up in the foster care system are more likely to be involved with other systems as adults, such as the criminal justice, mental health and social services systems.

Children and teenagers helped through roundtables
Most of the nearly 500 children and teenagers whose permanency status was evaluated by Casey Family Programs were from Fulton or DeKalb Counties. They ranged in age from 1 to 18, with a median age of 13. More than 90 percent were African American.

Three of every four of the children had been in foster care for at least two years and 55 percent at least four years. The average number of foster care placement moves per child was five.

In addition to the 31 percent who achieved permanency, only one youth (less than 1%) re-entered foster care after achieving permanency. That percentage is significantly lower than Georgia’s statewide re-entry rate of 4.4 percent in fiscal year 2009.

Improvements since 2008
Casey Family Programs analyzed data on more than 9,000 children in foster care throughout Georgia and found a significant improvement in permanency achievement in 2009 – the first year that roundtables were implemented statewide – when compared to 2008. The statewide implementation of roundtables may have played a critical role in this success.

The evaluation also found that younger children – in particular, those younger than 6 – were more likely than older ones to achieve permanency, which tracks the findings of other foster care studies.

Permanency roundtables also have proved to be successful in developing new strategies to expedite permanency, as well as identifying systemic barriers that can get in the way of permanency. That knowledge will be productive for Georgia in the future as it continues its efforts to find safe and permanent families for children and teenagers in foster care.