Permanency and placement stability

Permanency and placement stability

All children deserve to grow up in loving, lifelong families and have a sense of unconditional belonging. If children need to be separated from their parents due to safety concerns, child protection agencies should make affirmative, active, thorough, and timely efforts to swiftly reunify children safely with their families. Children across the country nevertheless sometimes linger in foster care, turning what should be a temporary experience into an extended stay that is associated with negative physical, mental, and emotional health consequences lasting into adulthood. In fact, one-third of all children in foster care have been there for two years or longer.

Permanency and placement stability have positive impacts on child safety and well-being. All child protection agencies must prioritize strategies to prevent children from lingering in foster care, experiencing multiple placements, and feeling disconnected from kin and community. No children should be left on their own to age out of foster care. When child protection agencies make the difficult decision to remove children from their family, time in foster care should be kept to a minimum until children can return home safely, live permanently with a legal guardian or relative, or — if neither are possible — be adopted into another permanent family, preferably with kin. Prioritizing permanency requires a sustained sense of urgency that begins the moment a child comes to the attention of a child protection agency. It means having a systemwide understanding that children’s sense of belonging is fundamental to their well-being, and that relational and legal permanency are critical to achieving that.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Man piggybacking young boy with two older men standing beside him

Why is it imperative to minimize children’s time away from family?

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Spanish guy with group of friends in a row indoors at university

How are child protection agencies promoting and supporting joint sibling placements and adoptions?

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"Young family enjoying a day in nature, shallow DOF, father and son in focus"

What are some strategies that prioritize first placement of children with a family?

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Please explore the related resources below and at Questions from the field to learn more about permanency and placement stability.