A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

These young adults have not outgrown their need for a sense of family. Few people do.

Increasingly, research suggests that having a permanent supportive relationship with, and feeling connected to, an adult matters in the long- and short-term wellbeing of youth and young adults.

In thinking about relational permanence, the role of biological family must be extended beyond that family’s official or legal status in a child’s permanency plan.

The stories these young people shared about being in foster care are reminders that every placement into a foster home is intimately linked with the removal from a home.