A New Vision Of Permanency

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A New Vision Of Permanency

• April 2006
• Jeff Griffin
• Will Ortiz

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Youth 11-years or Older in PP Service
Component by Placement Facility Type as of Dec.,
1, 2005
Where Are We Now? Agency-Wide
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Creating Family Connections(Continued)

• A new process of engagement was also taught
  regarding how to effectively approach family
  members to engage (or re-engage) into the youths
  life. The Creating Family Connections pilot
  project launched in December 2004 and ended in
  June 2005. The 6-month (with one more month of
  support by CCS) training project involved 27
  youth from the Multi-treatment Transition
  Services (MTS) division. The project had
  tremendous success in locating and engaging
  family members for youth that were previously
  thought to have no family members available to
  them.

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• Outcomes For Creating Family
• Connections Pilot Project
• Percentage of youth for which possible family
  connections
• were identified during the CFC project 92
• Percentage of youth for which new family
  connections
• were achieved during the CFC project 70
• Of youth for which connections were
  made
• Percentage of youth for which the new family
  connections that were achieved during the CFC
  project have remained since the project ended
  88
• Percentage of youth for which there is a positive
  difference in the youths functioning now that
  more family connections have been achieved 63
• Percentage of youth that have transitioned (or
  are being considered for a transition) to a lower
  level of care or family as a result of the CFC
  project 63
• Percentage of social workers who participated in
  the CFC project that think it is valuable and
  should be continued 100

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Creating Family Connections
Totals As Of January 2006
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• California Permanency for Youth Project
• Dedicated to assuring that no youth will leave
  the California child welfare system without a
  permanent lifelong connection to a caring adult
• The California Permanency for Youth Project
  (CPYP), a project of the Public Health Institute,
  started in January 2003 as a result of a
  five-year grant awarded by the Stuart Foundation.
  This grant has since been extended through 2009.
  Other funders include the Walter S. Johnson and
  Zellerback Family Foundations.
• Children eleven and older in the foster care
  system have a poor chance of finding a permanent
  family. When they do not find permanency before
  they leave the foster care system at age 18,
  research shows they often become homeless,
  unemployed, and disconnected. We believe it is
  the responsibility of the entire community to
  make sure that each youth who leaves the foster
  care system in California has a permanent
  lifelong connection with a caring adult.
• Pat Reynolds-Harris, MA, MSPH Director of
  California Permanency for Youth Project.
• -Taken from the California Permanency For Youth
  Website http//www.cpyp.org/

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California Permanency for Youth Project
(CPYP)(continued)
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California Permanency for Youth Project
(CPYP)(continued)

• Definition
• Permanency is both a process and a result that
  includes involvement of the youth as a
  participant or leader in finding a permanent
  connection with at least one committed adult who
  provides
• A safe, stable and secure parenting relationship
• Love
• Unconditional commitment
• Lifelong support in the context of a legal
  arrangement when possible
• The opportunity to maintain family ties and
  emotional bonds with siblings and important
  persons who will sustain connections with their
  culture
• Simply stated Permanency is when a child and an
  adult have a safe, stable, sustainable and
  committed relationship across time and
  circumstance.

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Orange County CPYP ProjectCPYP Project Goals

• 1. Increase connections for youth
• 2. Increase the number and engagement of
  supportive family members to enhance service
  provision
• 3. Increase the ability of youth to successfully
  emancipate from dependency
• 4. Expand the success of family finding and
  engagement strategies into other areas of CFS and
  expand the agencys definition of permanency.
• 5. Assess models of family finding and engagement
  to determine their usefulness in CFS.

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• Orange County CPYP Project
• What is our target group of youth?
• A total of 45 youth will be involved in the
  County of Orange CPYP project
• CFC will work with 25 youth in MTS, ICS I, ICS II
• ICS I Senior Social Worker Tawny Crane and
  Melanie McCallum will work with 20 selected cases
  in ICS I and implement family finding and
  engagement strategies for each case with support
  of the CPYP committee.

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Orange County CPYP ProjectWhat is our target
group of youth?(continued)
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REFERENCES

• Lighting the Fire of Urgency Families Lost and
  Found in Americas Child Welfare System. Kevin
  Campbell. Catholic Community Services of Western
  Washington
• Resource Documents, January 2005.
• The National Resource Center for Family-Centered
  Practice and Permanency Planning at the Hunter
  College School of Social Work http//www.hunter.c
  uny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/about-us.html
• Who Am I? Why Family Really Matters. Barbara
  Boisvert, Gina Brimner, Kevin Campbell, Don
  Koenig, Mary Stone-Smith. Catholic Community
  Services of Western Washington.
  www.ccsww.org/preservation/articles/article6.php.
• F.A.S.T. Family Assessment and Stabilization
  Team. Catholic Community Services of Western
  Washington. - www.ccsww.org
• California Permanency For Youth Project.
  http//www.cpyp.org/
• Permanence for Young People Framework. National
  Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency
  Planning at the Hunter College School of Social
  Work.