How Casey Promotes Permanence for Kids in Child Welfare

We want the best for chil­dren in child wel­fare. That’s why we have led or joined in major reform efforts focused on per­ma­nence. Our work has:

• Used inten­sive con­sult­ing to help child wel­fare agen­cies improve their per­ma­nen­cy rates.
   
• Empha­sized that, when­ev­er pos­si­ble, kids need legal per­ma­nence in addi­tion to rela­tion­al permanence. 
   
• Asked impor­tant ques­tions about how best to involve more fam­i­ly mem­bers in par­ent­ing kids.
   
• Used inno­v­a­tive strate­gies to involve fam­i­lies in their children’s lives, includ­ing Team Deci­sion Mak­ing, Per­ma­nen­cy Team­ing, Fam­i­ly Search and Engage­ment and Ice­break­ers.
   
• Improved fos­ter care prac­tice so more chil­dren are able to remain safe­ly in their homes, live with fam­i­ly or live in fos­ter homes in their home com­mu­ni­ties.
   
• Sparked con­ver­sa­tions about children’s devel­op­men­tal need for attach­ments and explained the impor­tant impli­ca­tions of neu­ro­science for teens leav­ing fos­ter care.
   
• Helped child wel­fare agen­cies place more chil­dren in fam­i­ly homes, not group care, since main­tain­ing and build­ing fam­i­ly attach­ments aids in achiev­ing permanence.
   
• Pro­mot­ed poli­cies that increase permanence.
   
• Devel­oped per­ma­nen­cy focused prac­tice tools, includ­ing a super­vi­so­ry prac­tice mod­el and child-and-fam­i­ly approach­es to dis­cussing per­ma­nence that focus on what fam­i­lies can offer, not what they cannot.