The webinar, “Getting to Permanence: The Practices of High-Performing Child Welfare Agencies,” highlights the importance of prioritizing family relationships and ensuring children and teens in foster care have enduring connections to loving, nurturing adults in their lives.

1. Getting to
Permanence:
The Practices of
High-Performing
Child Welfare
Agencies
JUNE 23, 2016
Child Welfare Strategy Group

2. Not pictured: Meha Desai, Consultant
Presenters
1
From the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s
Child Welfare Strategy Group
Morgan Cole
Program Associate
Katrina Brewsaugh
Senior Associate
Evette Jackson
Senior Associate

3. 2
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Questions?

4. Poll: Audience
What is your role in the child welfare field?
A. Administrator
B. Supervisor
C. Caseworker
D. Advocate
E. Foster parent
F. Service provider
G. Other
3

5. 4
This webinar is for agency staff, advocates,
community members, the legal community,
data analysts, providers and others. We will
discuss:
• The importance of permanence —
including for teens
• Current permanency outcomes and
indicators
• What drives permanence?
• Strategies to boost permanence
Today’s discussion

6. 5
Casey’s desk guide: A key tool for agency improvement
The two-volume Child Welfare Leader’s Desk
Guide to Building a High-Performing Agency
describes practices that shape permanency,
including:
• Focus on Child and Family Outcomes
(Practice #1)
• Make Relationships and Permanence the
Focus of Casework (#8)
• Develop Competent Front-End Decision
Making (#6)
• Meet Teens Needs for Family and Other
Supports (#9)
• Develop a Broad Service Array (#3)
• Build A Healthy Caregiver Network (#10)

7. 6
Permanency means having a “family for life,” an enduring family
relationship that:
• is safe and meant to last a lifetime
• offers the legal rights and social status of full family membership
• enables physical, emotional, social, cognitive and spiritual well-
being; and
• assures lifelong connections to birth and extended family, siblings,
other significant adults, family history, race and ethnic heritage,
culture, religion and language*
SOURCE: Casey Family Services, A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood. In
collaboration with California Permanency for Youth Project, Casey Family Programs and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. 2005.
What is permanence?

8. 7
“Family relationships —
particularly parent/child
relationships — are
the cornerstone of
child development.”
Consensus Statement on Group Care
for Children and Adolescents:
A Statement of Policy of the American
Orthopsychiatry Association (2014)
Leaving foster care without permanent, caring adult
relationships exposes youth to poorer life chances.
Compared to other young adults, those who age out
of foster care are:*
2 times as likely to drop out of high school
2 times as likely to be unemployed and unable
to meet basic needs
6 times as likely to have physical and mental
health issues
2.5 times as likely to become young, system-
involved parents
3 times as likely to be incarcerated by age 19
3 times as likely to experience homelessness
for one day or more
SOURCE: Casey National Alumni Study, Midwest study of the adult function of former foster youth: Outcomes at age 27, Chapin Hall Center for Children.
Why permanence?

9. Family aids child development at all ages
8

10. 9
“Why do you want a family?
It’s about my entire life. It’s not just about
my childhood. I want to know that I’m going
to have a place to come home to during
Christmas breaks. I want to know that I’m
going to have a dad to walk me down the
aisle — that I’m going to have grandparents
for my children. No one can make it
completely on their own.”
― Youth from 2014 CWSG survey
Youth who age out miss the benefits
of belonging to a family

11. Finding permanence for some kids may require extra attention to data, policy and practice considerations.
Make sure to review your agencies’ permanency outcomes for kids by race, ethnicity and gender,
sibling groups, teens and sexual orientation and gender identity
10
Current indicators:
What drives permanence?
Factors affecting outcomes
• Reason for entry
• Initial placement type
• Placement stability
• Length of stay in placement
• Strong, caring ongoing relationships
with family and caregivers

12. 11
19,041
29,601
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
23,346
Youth emancipating from care
SOURCE: KIDS COUNT Data Center, 1999-2014
Current outcomes:
Despite improvement, too many youths age out each year

13. 12
Current indicators:
Who is in foster care?
SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), 2014 children served
Male
52%
Female
48%
0-5
years
40%
6-12
years
30%
13-15
yrs.
13%
16-21
yrs.
18%
653,255 kids and youth
were in care for at least eight days in 2014
Rates of entry
• More than 264,000 children entered
foster care.
‒ Kids of all ages: 3.6 per 1,000
‒ Teens: 2.6 per 1,000
‒ Children 0-12: 3.78 per 1,000
• In 26 states, 25% of entries were
teens (13 and older)

14. 13
Kids of color comprise 48% of the general population
but make up 54% of kids entering care
52%
14%
24%
10%
46%
22% 22%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
White African
American
Hispanic Other or
Multiracial
Disproportionality in entries in 2014
N=264,703
General Population Entry Population
SOURCE: AFCARS 2014 and U.S. Census Bureau
White
44%
African-American
24%
Hispanic
22%
Multi-racial
7%
Native
American
2%
Asian/Hawaiian
1%
Race/ethnicity of kids served in 2014
N= 653,255
Current indicators:
Children of color disproportionately represented

15. 14SOURCE: Chapin Hall Center for Children (2012)
For kids in out-of-home care, initial placement in family settings
is crucial to better outcomes. They experience well-being and
developmental benefits in families
88%
7%
34% 35%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Family (Kin/Foster) Group
Median
Placement type
Initial placements
0-12
13+
Range
50 – 93%
Range
31 – 78%
Range
18 – 67%
Range
1 – 42%
Current Indicators:
Kids need stable living situations, relationships

16. 15
Likelihood of permanence diminishes drastically based on age, length of stay*
31.34%
42.37%
53.04%
58.37%
22%
28% 30% 30%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Percent
Months
Time until permanency is reached among
foster care entrants*
Under Age 12 Age 12+
*Chart represents an actual jurisdiction
8 mo.
for 12+
18 mo.
for 0 -11
Current indicators:
How long a child is away from home can affect permanency
According to U.S Children’s Bureau’s Child & Family Services Reviews (CFSR) permanency outcomes were not broadly
achieved. 62% of states failed to achieve federal standard for at least 1 CFSR permanency measure2; 6 states failed
federal standard for all 3 measures

17. Exits care
SOURCES: AFCARS 2014 and U.S. Census Bureau
Also, refer to previous CWSG webinar on Measuring Racial Disparity
*Children in care on 9/30/2014
For each white child who…
1.82
Black
children
0.88
Black
children
1.25
Black
children
1.00
Hispanic
children
0.96
Hispanic
children
0.92
Hispanic
children
16
Current indicators:
Kids of color face disparity at key points, affecting permanency

18. 17
Poll: How familiar are you with your agency’s
permanency outcomes?
1
Unfamiliar
10
Extremely
knowledgeable
5
Somewhat
familiar

19. What drives permanence?
18
Before care In care After care
Permanence
Practice/
Policy
Service/
Supports
Data
Boost permanence by using targeted approaches in all stages

20. 19
Before care
• % of cases receiving in-home
services
• % of children entering care,
exiting in fewer than 30 days
• # of youth from juvenile
justice system court-referred
to placement
• % of teens removed for
behavior
In placement
• % in custody placed with kin
• % of kids initially placed in
family settings
• % initially put in group care
• # of youths who go AWOL
• % who remain in care after
2 years
After care
• % of children entering care
who exit to reunification or
kin within one year
• % entering care achieving
permanence within 2 years
• % of teens who emancipated
or aged out
• % 18-21 in extended care
Strategy: Use data to track performance indicators
to gauge permanency outcomes, inform practice
* Disaggregate all data by age, race and gender
** Refer to Casey’s desk guide for additional performance indicators
Sample indicators

21. 20
An effective pool of preventive
services addresses:
• Family issues prior to court
oversight
• Specific needs that bring
a family to the agency’s attention
• Behavior problems or parent-child
conflict
• Safety and builds on family
strengths and child well-being
Practice examplesIn 2012, 27% of older
youth were removed and
placed for child behavior
only* Delaware FAIR Teen CONNECT
*Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.(2015) Too many teens: Preventing unnecessary out-of-home placements. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from
www.aecf.org/resources/too-many-teens/
• Screening and referral
to FAIR provider based
on risk and safety
assessment
• Timely response to
families is critical
• Family engagement is
central this practice
• 40% reduction in teen
entries into child welfare
• 28% return on
investment
• Utilizes evidence-based
and best practices
• Manualized, evidence-
based and a cost
effective intervention
for birth and foster
parents based on
attachment theory
• Focuses on youth with
challenging behaviors
• Decrease in youth
aggression, conduct
and oppositional
behaviors
• Increase in parenting
satisfaction
Strategy: Access to prevention services
can reduce unnecessary entries

22. 21
Benefits to family engagement
This practice can lead to increased:
• Opportunities for family to be involved in
decision making and maintain connections
to child
• Trust and relationships with families
• Opportunities to meet child and family
needs in least-restrictive settings
• Initial placements with relatives
• Timely reunification
• Placement stability and an increase in
conversations that lead to permanency
Team
Decision
Making
(TDM)
Key decision
points
Facilitated
Family/youth
involved
Strategy: Include families from the beginning
and throughout the life of a case

23. 22
Kinship
Remove barriers that
limit the approval of
relatives
FosterFamily
Target recruitment to
ensure foster home
network can serve
population
GroupPlacement
Restrict group
settings to meeting
short-term
therapeutic needs;
eliminate use of
emergency/
assessment shelter
Placement
continuum
Practice
examples
• Kinship Process Mapping
(KPM)
• Licensing/approval
standard, waivers for kin
• Family Search and
Engagement
• Recruitment, Development
and Support (RDS)
• Trauma Training
Curriculum (TST/ARC)
• TEEN Connect
• Expedited Permanency
Meetings (EPM)
• Director sign off policy
• Placing youth near home
of origin
Provide youth in out-of-home placement with developmentally appropriate,
trauma- informed services that support their ability to live in families
Strategy: Prioritize kin, family foster care to increase
placement stability, improve outcomes

24. 23
Strategy: Frequent caseworker contact strongly
associated with improved safety, permanency outcomes
PRACTICE STANDARDS
• Caseworker facilitates visits between children and birth parent
• Sibling visits are critical
• Face-to-face visits are key to effective casework
• Visits should be done regularly, regardless of child’s placement
• Provide support services when needed
+
FREQUENCY
At least monthly
QUALITY
Face-to-face, focused on family
strengthens and services needs
Improve
safety and
permanency
outcomes
SOURCE: U.S. Health and Human Services, Administration fro Children and Families. Findings from initial 2001-2004 Child and Family Services
Review. Retrieved from www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/findings_from_the_inital_cfsr.pdf
+

25. Strategy: Post-reunification, adoption services
are key to sustain permanency outcomes, reduce re-entries
24
In-home services stabilize reunification and reduce re-entries
Practice standards
Provide:
• Ongoing casework after exit
• In-home therapeutic service to stabilize reunification
• Aftercare therapeutic intervention provided by
residential treatment providers
(www.BuildingBridges4Youth.org )

26. 25
Poll: What do you feel is the TOP priority
to improve for your agency?
A. Preventing unnecessary entries
B. Engaging families at all key decision
points throughout the life of a case
C. Making initial placements with relatives
and families
D. Providing after-care supports to minimize
re-entry

27. 26
Casey recommends
• Pay attention to permanence and family search from day one and thereafter
• Continuously collect and assess data on permanence and identify, address
inequitable permanency outcomes by race, ethnicity, age and gender
• Engage families at key decision points, including in placement options, and
involve them in services and treatment
• Provide children with stable living situations, caring relationships and
ongoing family connections and prioritize permanence
• Build a robust service array so most children live in families, using group
placements for only short-term therapeutic care
• Provide parents, caregivers sufficient supports to develop children and concrete,
trauma-informed skills to use in everyday life to ensure children’s well-being

28. 27
See endnotes for links to:
• Casey’s desk guide
• Too many teens: Preventing
unnecessary out-of-home placements
• Team Decision Making case study:
Engaging families in placement
decisions
• Back on track: Transforming Virginia’s
child welfare system
• Building successful resource families
practice guide
• Stepping up for kids: What government
and communities should do to support
kinship families
Casey resources can help

29. 28
Endnotes and additional resources
Practice resources
• A Child Welfare Leader’s Desk Guide to Becoming a High-Performing Agency (2015)
http://www.aecf.org/resources/10-practices-part-one/
• Model foster home licensing standards
http://www.grandfamilies.org/Portals/0/Model%20Licensing%20Standards%20FINAL.pdf
• Too many teens: Preventing unnecessary out of home placements
http://www.aecf.org/resources/too-many-teens/
• Team Decision Making case study: Engaging families in placement decisions
http://www.aecf.org/resources/team-decision-making/
• Back on track: Transforming Virginia’s child welfare system
http://www.aecf.org/resources/back-on-track/
• Building successful resource families practice guide
http://www.aecf.org/resources/building-successful-resource-families/
• Stepping up for kids: What government and communities should do to support kinship
families http://www.aecf.org/resources/stepping-up-for-kids/

30. For print copies of the desk guide,
please email dortiz@aecf.org
Next steps
29
Please share your ideas and promising practices
Casey will update the desk guide in 2017.
What should be included? Do you have a promising practice to share with the field?
Please email your feedback and ideas to Morgan Cole at mcole@aecf.org.

31. Questions?
30