Safety • Permanency • Well-being

Agencies and CourtsWashington, DC

August 2009

Concurrent Planning

Framing the Issue: CFSR Perspective

• States are still challenged to meet Permanency Outcome 1 and the national data standards related to permanency

• The CFSR is finding good examples of concurrent planning, but it’s not widespread

• States may articulate the expectation that concurrent planning occur, but it’s not actually happening

Framing the Issue: Challenges in the Field

• Philosophical belief that concurrent planning predisposes the system to not work faithfully on reunification services

• Courts and/or attorneys don’t support concurrent planning and/or State statutes don’t support concurrent goals

Framing the Issue: Challenges in the field

• Workers do not always have the skills to navigate important practices such as full disclosure

• Foster parents do not always understand concurrent planning and their roles

• Recruitment of families is not always targeted to families willing to be concurrent planning homes

Framing the Issue: Challenges in the field

• Permanency goals shift according to case circumstances rather than child’s needs

• Systems are not aligned to support concurrent planning, e.g. adoption workers get involved after TPR is filed

Framing the Issue: What Are the Numbers?

• 496,000 children in care• 130,000 awaiting adoptive placement• However this number does not include

the number of children in LTFC/APPLA who are not in permanent homes and for whom no one is seeking permanency

~ 293,000 children enter care annually ~ 287,000 children exit care annually

60% of children adopted by their foster parents

25% by relatives

Homes for the remaining 15% recruited at state, local, and national level – “waiting children”

However…

• Less than five percent of children identified for adoption are photolisted on AdoptUsKids

• Families who are make inquiries to States often receive no response or are told that the agency doesn’t place out of state

• Children who need to be photolisted sometimes don’t have pictures taken

• Children in LTFC/APPLA are not systematically reviewed on an ongoing basis for permanency

How does change happen?

• Data • alone • does • not • change •

practice…

Children’s Bureau Efforts

• National Training and Technical Assistance Network to build States capacities to serve children and families

• National adoption recruitment campaign which drives audience to AdoptUsKids website

• Free national photolisting site of children who need placement and approved families waiting to adopt

How Can We Work Together to Improve Outcomes in the Area?

• Social workers need clear processes, infrastructure, leadership, and way of sorting information to enable them to make placements across jurisdictions/States

• Working together ensures that more children in the country are out of foster care and with families

• Permanency Decisions are difficult and many staff are young and/or inexperienced. Providing support for permanency improves worker support and outcomes for children in care

Periodic and Systemic Review

• Does your State use a data-driven systemic review of all children in care over a certain amount of time who are not in permanent placement?

• Is the case viewed through a “permanency lens” to see if every permanency option has been availed in the case?

• Does your State have existing review meetings that can be enhanced to review cases for permanency?

Concurrent Planning

• Making efforts to reunify the family while at the same time, developing an alternative permanent plan.

• Concurrent rather than sequential planning efforts to move children to permanency

• Result: expedites reunification because of the structured, focused and respectful involvement of parents and family early in the planning process

• Adoption and Safe Families Act encourages the use of alternative permanency goals to expedite permanency

What Is Permanency?

• Stability without disruption

• Safe and nurturing home environment and set of relationships

• Growing up with siblings• Connections of

Community of Origin• Religion and Culture

Preserved• Gives child a sense of

belonging and a definitive legal and social status

• Educational needs met• Healing of past trauma• Physical/ Emotional

Needs met• Contact with appropriate

family of origin members• Opportunity to live in a

permanent home, one which can be returned to for support even as an adult; home intended to last indefinitely

Permanency Planning Philosophy

• Permanency planning guided by a child’s sense of time, not convenience or schedule of adult

• Least Detrimental Alternative “each move hurts”

• A range of parenting styles and practices is acceptable, if minimum care is provided

Goals of Concurrent Planning

• Promote early permanency decisions for children and engage families and relatives early

• Reduce unnecessary delays and number of temporary placements

• Shorten time children stay in foster care

• Increase consents as parents are informed up front about permanency options and can make responsible decisions.

• Develop case plans with measurable goals and shorter time frames

• Develop network of foster parents willing to work with biological families and serve as permanency resource for children

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Family Assessment

• Must begin with good engagement. Clearly define your role, expectations, the law and your goal of permanency for the child.

• Assessment within first 60 days in care

• Assess family’s likelihood of reunification and make a reasoned hypothesis

• Assess: family history, relationship with child, progress to date, family strengths, available support systems

• If poor prognosis and sufficient reasonable efforts made, develop and pursue the concurrent plan

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Locate Supportive Temporary and Permanent Caregivers

Identify putative father early in case and locate and attempt to utilize relatives

Ideally, caregivers should support both plans, mentoring the biological family yet willing to provide permanent home if reunification isn’t realistic.

Work with caregivers and train to easily transition to adoptive resource and train kinship caregivers to understand need for permanence.

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Full Disclosure

Fully disclose to all families early in case:

• negative effects of placement on children

• urgency for reunification

• agency’s need for concurrent plan if poor follow through

Explain shortened time frames, expectations and parents responsibilities to work toward reunification in a timely manner

Clear, concise, written service plans

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Full Disclosure (continued)

Specify time limits as established by the law

Time is measured not by parent’s clock but by child’s point of view and needs

Timely permanency is the primary goal of case

Review all permanency options and involve parents in making permanency decisions

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Provide Intensive Up-Front Reunification Services, including Visitation

• Identify problems that led to placement and provide services to address problem.

• Identify all obstacles to reunification, may be different from presenting placement problems.

• Encourage frequent visitation in order to maintain child’s attachment to parent —will result in faster reunification or early decision to seek alternative permanent placement

• Document all diligent efforts, services provided to family and their progress.

Develop Plan A and Plan B

If case assessed to have poor prognosis of reunification, place child in home willing to work with biological parents but also prepared to become permanent placement

Disclose both permanency plans-reunification and alternative permanent placement to parents

Even if pursue Plan B, still must provide services to biological family until court states otherwise, these will be your diligent efforts

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Written Service Plan

• Involve family and all necessary parties in early planning, prior to disposition if necessary

• Agree on small steps with goals which can be easily understood, measured and well documented.

• Results in observable compliance and measurable progress

• Proceed based on actual progress not promises of compliance

• Early and ongoing case review to assess progress, needs and appropriate permanency plan

Implementation: Steps to Concurrent Planning

Involve Courts Early in the Process

Courts must embrace both philosophical as well as practice implications of concurrent planning

The Role of the Court

• Assist with full disclosure – Disclose ASFA timeframes,

expectations and consequences– Explain child’s need for permanency

and your role to ensure permanency– Review all permanency options explaining that

reunification is the first goal– Open communication with resource parents regarding

their role• Draft court orders that reflect expectations

– Help to clearly identify problems that led to placement – Identify obstacles to reunification – Help establish and enforce firm time frames

The Role of the Court

• Ensure that referrals are made for early and intensive services which are:– targeted to the individual family – timely, available and accessible

• Make sure that the concurrent permanency plan is clearly identified and stated in court for all parties to hear– Monitor progress toward achieving primary

permanency goal – Monitor progress taken toward pursuing the

concurrent permanency plan• Make child-centered decisions: child’s timeframe

and need for permanency– Help decide when enough services have been

provided

The Role of the Court

• Conducting Permanency Hearings – Consider more frequent reviews– Support foster parent involvement at hearings– Make aggressive efforts to keep sibs together; sib

visitation– Review educational and medical needs of each child– Be proactive about soliciting input from the child!!!– Be aware of “raising the bar” phenomenon and do

not “reset” the bar

RCLJI TA and resources available

Agency Attorney Considerations

• If plan not going well, consider bringing it back to court

• Should you return to court when considering a change in goal?

• Have court orders specify behavioral changes, not just attendance

• Consider articulated agency policy regarding concurrent planning

Role of Parent’s Attorney

• Explain to their clients the benefits to them and their children of concurrent planning

• Help clients feel comfortable participating in FGC and mediation

• Help clients have a better understanding of the system and the court process

• Request evaluations of the quality of visits with parents to ensure progress is being charted as well as front loading of services

Role of Child’s Attorney/ GAL

• Meet with children, family members foster parents and other relevant players to assure an accurate, independent assessment of the family

• Ensure permanency needs have been assessed and placement resource matches these needs

• Ensure that the Judge has all the information needed to make informed decisions

• Role re court’s “consultation” with the child

• Keep focus on the child

Benefits To the Child

• Reduced placements, which reduces attachment disorders

• Earlier permanency through reunification or other permanency option.

▪ Eliminates loyalty issues

▪ Less identity issues in adolescence and adulthood

Benefits To the Parent• Creates sense of urgency which

motivates

• Early accessible services and inclusion in decisions

• Allows parent to determine what role they will play in child’s permanency outcome

• Lays the groundwork for openness with permanent caregiver providing on going support or open adoption

Common Problems/Tips to Effective Permanency Planning

• Tendency to focus on adoption; minimize reunification

• Must use assessment as tool to determine likelihood of reunification, not the same as a safety assessment

• Investing in one outcome only, must let results evolve from family’s decisions and actions (Don’t predetermine the goal)

• Engage parents in process of decision-making, the agency is not the enforcer but rather a supportive role model

• Make case plans family centered with parents taking an active role

• Don’t alienate the treatment community, they may have different goals than you; find common ground

• Above all honesty with parents and caregivers

• Explain risks involved to caregivers of child returning, no guarantee of adoption

• Train and support caregivers

Resources from T/TA Network• Tools for Permanency - Concurrent Permanency Planning

This tool offers a structured approach to moving children more quickly from the uncertainty of foster care to the stability and security of a permanent family.

• Concurrent Planning: What the Evidence ShowsThis issue brief includes a review and synthesis of research on concurrent planning and presents successful examples of concurrent planning from the field that demonstrate evidence-based practice. Information from the first round of Child and Family Services Reviews relating to how States use concurrent planning is also presented. The brief was developed in partnership with the Child Welfare League of America Research to Practice Initiative, under subcontract to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

• Implementing Concurrent Planning: A Handbook for Child Welfare AdministratorsThis report from the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement looks at the experience of three jurisdictions in implementing concurrent planning. Based on their experience – as well as that of other individuals interviewed – this report also provides guidance for child welfare administrators who are moving into the concurrent planning environment: issues to tackle prior to getting started, changes in policy and practice, and resources to assist in the transition.

• State Statute Series - Concurrent Planning for Permanency for Children This document from the Child Welfare Information Gateway summarizes state statutes on concurrent planning.

Guides from the States • Idaho:

Standard: Concurrent PlanningConcurrent planning is the process of working toward reunification while at the same time establishing an alternative or contingency backup plan. The purpose of these standards from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is to provide direction and guidance to the Children and Family Services (CFS) programs regarding Concurrent Planning services. (2008)

• Minnesota: – Practice Guide for Concurrent Permanency Planning

This guide from Children and Family Services describes a step-by-step approach to working with families in the child welfare system.

– Handbook for Training Concurrent Permanency Planning Resource Parents in MinnesotaThis publication from the North American Council on Adoptable Children contains exercises that help program managers and social workers prepare concurrent permanency planning resource parents to facilitate two contrasting permanency planning outcomes. By Mary Ford, M.S.W.

New Mexico:Concurrent PlanningA guide for judges, attorneys, and others working with children and families.

Guides from the States

– Pennsylvania:Integrating Concurrent Planning into Child WelfareThis training curriculum from the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh provides child welfare professionals with an understanding of what concurrent planning is, as well as its benefits and challenges. This training is intended for all caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators who provide direct services to families and/or develop policy that guides casework practice and allocation of resources.

– Wisconsin:Continuous Permanency Planning TimelineThis document is a work aid for county, tribal, contract, and state child welfare staff to standardize the concurrent case planning process, guide collateral communication, and coordinate permanency planning activities. The chart will help ensure timely legal determinations and referrals for permanency consultation leading to permanence for all children served by the Wisconsin child welfare system. This chart reflects good practice standards.

– Wyoming:Wyoming Concurrent Planning HandbookThis handbook, prepared with the assistance of the NRCFCPPP, describes the model of concurrent permanency planning adopted statewide, and provides guidance to caseworkers throughout the process.

Concurrent Planning Curriculum– Concurrent Planning Curriculum:

– The overall training objectives of this curriculum developed by the National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning are: to enhance understanding of concurrent planning concepts and practices as a framework for child welfare practice; to expand knowledge and skills of engaging vulnerable families respect, empathy, genuineness and full disclosure; to increase differential assessment skills and the ability to think critically about case potential and progress; to enhance professionalism and professional competence in helping families engage in the process of change; and to enhance understanding of benefits and stages of family meetings to address safety, permanency and developmental well-being.

Concurrent Planning Webcast

Concurrent Planning: Strategies for

Implementation

This webcast was conducted on February 13,

2003. Presenters: Carol Kelly and Janyce L.

Fenton

Concurrent Planning TA

The NRCFCPP and other members of the T&TA

Network work together with States to individually

address issues of Concurrent Planning.

Both off-site TA in the form of practice and

policy review and on-site TA in the form of

working directly in State with staff to develop a plan to

address the core practice and policy issues of

Concurrent Permanency Planning

Children’s Bureau T&TA Network

National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at

AdoptUsKids (NRCRRFAP)