10.22 Permanency Planning | CWS

All children are entitled to a safe, permanent and nurturing home. In order to grow up to be healthy, self-sufficient adults, children need to experience stability and continuity in a lifetime relationship with a parent or other permanent caregiver. Permanency planning is the process of assessing and preparing a child for long term care when in out-of-home placements. Permanency planning must focus on what is in the child’s best interests, and therefore requires an initial and ongoing assessment of the needs of the child and family.

A thorough understanding of the family is the foundation of all child welfare interventions. The assessment process is ongoing and involves gathering facts, observations and information about and from the family. The assessment should also involve:

Such information is then analyzed, and conclusions are drawn about family functioning, including family strengths and needs. The SSCM gains a better understanding of the family as a unique system. There is insight into how family members think, feel, behave, relate to others and respond to various situations, including the removal of the child.

Assessment results guide staff in making sound decisions about the best placement for the child, critical service needs of the child and family and the most viable plan for achieving permanency. Initially, the assessment assists staff in making a prognosis regarding the likelihood for reunification, the preferred permanency plan when safety can be assured. For some children in care (particularly young children and children whose families are less likely to respond to time-limited reunification services), a concurrent permanency plan may be developed. Concurrent planning allows the agency to pursue an alternative plan alongside reunification, in the event reunification is not possible or safe. The plan may have to be continuously refined in partnership with the family to ensure achievement of permanency in the best interest of the child.

A fundamental principle of permanency planning is the understanding that when children are unable to live with their family, efforts to promote the connectedness of family and significant relationships with people who are important to them are essential to the child’s identity, sense of belonging and culture. Therefore, it is essential that diligent search efforts to locate kin and other committed individuals begin as early as possible to facilitate permanency for the child through adoption or guardianship, when reunification with one or both parents has been ruled out (see policy 19.20 Case Management: Diligent Search and 10.4 Foster Care: Selecting a Placement Resource).

Foster care is a temporary setting and not a place for children to spend any more time than is necessary. It is critical to begin planning for permanency from the time children enter care and to keep the family actively involved in permanency decisions for the children. Regardless of the permanency plan, the safety and well-being of the children must be reasonably assured.

Georgia law defines a permanent placement as:

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) includes provisions intended to move children more quickly through the foster care system into safe, permanent families including:

Reunification is the return of a child in the temporary custody of DFCS to the legal and physical custody of the parent, guardian or legal custodian from whom custody was removed. Custody to a non-custodial parent is also reunification. Reunification is an appropriate permanency plan when the family requires time-limited reunification services (generally provided no longer than 12 months) to make it possible for the child to safely return home. When selecting reunification as a permanency plan, consideration should also be given to:

Adoption is an appropriate permanency plan when the parents, guardians or legal custodians are unable to safely care for the child or reunification is not in the child’s best interest. Kin may be selected as the adoptive resource. Children may be reluctant to consent to adoption due to not wanting to sever ties with their family. The Regional Adoption Coordinator (RAC) can assist in discussing adoption with the child and/or family or refer the child to a counselor specializing in adoption preparation.

When selecting adoption as a permanency plan, consideration should also be given to the following:

Prior to pursuing permanent guardianship as a permanency plan for a child in foster care, DFCS must demonstrate reasonable efforts towards reunification unless circumstances exist where reasonable efforts for reunification are not required. When reunification is determined not to be in the best interest of the child, adoption must be thoroughly explored and ruled out as a preferred permanency plan before selecting permanent guardianship. Permanent guardianship for a child in foster care may be granted by the juvenile court when determined to be in the best interest of the child. The guardianship order establishes a permanent guardian and outlines the permanent guardian’s rights and responsibilities concerning the care, custody and control of a child. Guardianship applies to the person(s) specified on the court order. The court may enter an order of support on behalf of the child against the parents. Permanent guardianship granted by the juvenile court may only be dissolved or modified if there is a material (important and substantial) change in the child’s or guardian’s circumstances. A change in the biological parents’ circumstances may be construed by the court as a material change in the child’s circumstances. Therefore, everyone must be informed that although the guardianship is intended to be permanent, it may not be.

Permanent guardianship is possible when a child is adjudicated dependent, and:

DFCS should request a non-reunification determination when seeking permanent guardianship, as DFCS requires the non-reunification order as an eligibility criteria for the guardianship subsidy. In all other circumstances non-reunification should not be requested. It is important that DFCS continue to demonstrate reasonable efforts to reunify the family at all times during the dependency action, especially in circumstances where termination of parental rights is being pursued.

Another planned permanent living arrangement (APPLA) is an appropriate plan when:

The two options that classify as APPLA include long-term foster care (LTFC) by Agreement and emancipation. Long-term foster care is feasible when no other plan is appropriate, and the present caregiver is available and willing to provide a home for the child as long as foster care is needed. APPLA may not be selected for a child under the age of 16. With long-term foster care, in most instances, a child, the caregiver and the County Department sign an informal, non-legal agreement (APPLA Agreement) indicating the intention for the placement to last until the child no longer needs foster care placement. If possible, the child’s parents, guardians or legal custodians also sign. Limitations of long-term foster care include:

Emancipation is feasible when no other plan is appropriate, there is no consistent adoptive or foster family for the child and the child requires foster care placement until age 18. Although the plan lacks permanence, its selection provides a planned living arrangement for maintaining the child in foster care until eventual emancipation to independent living or to a protective environment. For youth whose special needs or severe limitations will require some type of protective environment beyond age 18, planning must begin well in advance of the youth reaching age 18 due to the limited resources and the waiting list for placement consideration. Contact the Complex Needs Adult Transition (CNAT) Unit for additional guidance.

While reunification should be the first permanency plan considered whenever it is in the best interest of the child, there are situations that allows DFCS to pursue adoption or permanent guardianship as the initial permanency option. In these circumstances (outlined in policy 17.11 Legal: Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and/or policy 9.5 Eligibility: Reasonable Efforts), the SSCM and SSS should consult with the Regional FPS and RAC for guidance on how to proceed with the most appropriate permanency plan for the child. Consultation with the SAAG should also occur to ensure DFCS is moving swiftly with legal permanence for the child.

Concurrent planning rather than sequential planning helps move children more quickly from foster care to permanency. This involves working towards a primary permanency plan of reunification while simultaneously working towards an alternative permanency plan of adoption or guardianship. The alternate plan is to prevent the child from lingering in foster care, not an attempt to undermine the parent’s, guardian’s or legal custodian’s efforts toward reunification. To achieve timely permanency, working towards both plans simultaneously is critical. A concurrent plan should not be selected as a default plan, rather it should be selected based on an assessment of the family’s circumstances using the Concurrent Planning Assessment Guide. When the primary permanency plan is no longer appropriate, in conjunction with the SAAG petition the court to move forward with the alternate permanency plan. The following are critical components of concurrent planning:

In accordance with ASFA, a permanency plan is to be finalized within 12 months of a child entering care. Once a concurrent permanency plan has been approved by the court, court approval is required for the agency to cease reunification efforts and focus on the alternate permanency plan of adoption and guardianship. Reunification services must continue until the court approves another permanency plan. A permanency plan is finalized when the permanency outcome has been achieved (i.e., child is reunified with parents, guardian or legal custodian; child’s adoption is finalized; permanent guardianship is granted). If the court finds that the child has been living in a stable home environment with the current caregiver(s) for the past 12 months and that removal from the caregiver(s) would be detrimental to the child’s emotional well-being, the court may presume that continuation of the child’s placement with the current caregiver is in the child’s best interests and shall enter a finding that a change of placement is a failure by DFCS to make reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan in effect at the time of the hearing; provided however, that such presumption shall not apply to prevent the return of the child to his or her parent, guardian, or legal custodian.