CONCURRENT PLANNING 101: The Honorable Sandra Miller Paulding County Juvenile Court
Barbara Burnley & Angie ChandlerPaulding County DFCS
Julie York & Amy MobleyDFCS Education & Project Management Unit
Georgia Child Welfare Legal AcademyEmory University School of Law
Nov. 18, 2011Atlanta, GA
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Our Shared Vision for Today Understand the Theory Behind
Concurrent Case Planning
Understand the Practices that Promote Good Concurrent Case Planning
Understand Where Georgia is Today with Respect to Concurrent Case Planning
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Agenda
Foundational Matters Concurrent Planning Nationally Concurrent Planning in Georgia The Trials & Tribulations of CP at the
County Level Questions & Answers
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What is Concurrent Planning? Concurrent Planning: Working towards
reunification while at the same time establishing and implementing an alternative permanency plan.
Permanency Options: Reunification is always required as the primary plan Alternative Plans Include:
1. Adoption2. Guardianship3. Permanent Custody with a Fit & Willing Relative.
APPLA is not an appropriate option for concurrent plans
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Alternate Plans Number of Alternate Plans
Adoption 1191Guardianship 80Permanent Custody with Fit & Willing Relative
1573
APPLA 52
Current Planning in Georgia Today
On October 1, 2011: 2902 children in foster care with concurrent
case plans. That’s about 40% of the overall population.
Most common Primary plan is Reunification, but there are primary plans of APPLA, Live with Fit & Willing Relative, and Adoption (which is not good)
Alternate Plans Break Down Like This:
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Current Planning in Georgia by Age
Median Age: 6.1 // Range: [.1,18)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 180
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10
15
20
25
30
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Concurrent Plan Distribution by Child Age
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Why Concurrent Planning? Benefits of Concurrent Planning:
Fewer Placements for Children in Care. Fewer Adoption Disruptions Reduced Length of Time in Care Formation of New Extended Families Supports Continuity and Stability in
Family Relationships May Produce Cost Savings
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Theory of Concurrent Planning Reduce Time in Care: Foster Care is a
Temporary Setting & Children Should Spend no More Time in Care Than Absolutely Necessary
Shift the Emotional Burden: Adults, Rather than Children, Should Assume the Emotional Risk of Foster Care & Uncertain Futures
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Agenda
Foundational Matters Concurrent Planning Nationally Concurrent Planning in Georgia The Trials & Tribulations of CP at the
County Level Questions & Answers
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Concurrent Planning Emerges
Adoption Assistance & Child Welfare Act of 1980 Practice Required a Preferred Permanency Plan to
Be Ruled out Before an Alternative was Developed
Lead to Sequential Case Planning Believed to be Among the Contributors to ‘Foster
Care Drift’
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 Allows Courts to Order Concurrent Case Planning
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Concurrent Planning Ruffles Feathers
Courts & Attorneys: Development of an Alternative Case Plan Conflicts
with Agencies’ Genuine Pursuit of Family Reunification.
Provider Community: Certain Services (e.g., Adoption Recruitment) May Not
be Initiated Until Petition to TPR is Filed. Local Casemanagers:
Inherent Tension in Working with a Family at the Same Time You are Recruiting a New One
Foster Parents & Relatives: Asking them to Sign up for the Role of “Plan B.”
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The Fed’s Recognize the Challenge
The Children’s Bureau: “concurrent planning efforts are not being
implemented on a consistent basis when appropriate. . .”
“some states had formal, excellent concurrent planning policies at the state level, but there was no evidence of concurrent planning practices in the case reviews.”
“In a number of states, concurrent goals were written in the case files, but case reviews showed that efforts towards the goals were sequential rather than concurrent.”
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Research on Non-Reunification
Most Common Indicators for Non-Reunification: Parent previously killed or
seriously harmed another child. Parent repeatedly and with
premeditation harmed a child. Parent’s only visible support
system is a drug culture. Parent has significant and
untreated mental health issues.
Parents rights to another child have been involuntarily terminated.
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Atlanta, GA: Timeliness to Perm.
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Jacksonville, FL: Timeliness to Perm.
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Concurrent Planning Takes Shape
INVOLVES: Up Front Assessment: individualized and intensive
Family Engagement: full disclosure of parental strengths, needs, indicators for concurrent planning and consequences
Diligent Search: early and ongoing aggressive search
Early Identification of All Permanency Options: not just reunification at the start
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Components of Concurrent Planning
Firm Timelines for Permanency
Full Disclosure to Parents
Early & Ongoing Exploration of Family Members as Caretakers
Early Paternity Determination
Frequent & Meaningful Visitation
Active Examination of Parental Ambivalence
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Primary Culprit: the CP Assessment Guide
Agency Completes Assessment of Family’s Likelihood of Being Reunified Quickly Based on A Number of Indicators
Families with Poor Prognosis of Reunification are Given a Concurrent Plan and Full Disclosure of Such
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Agenda
Foundational Matters Concurrent Planning Nationally Concurrent Planning in Georgia The Trials & Tribulations of CP at the
County Level Questions & Answers
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Current Planning in Georgia is Born
Innovation Zones: Training Jan – Mar 2010
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CHILD FAMILY
Changing the Message
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Myths and Concerns Concurrent planning is just a fast track
to Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and will set birth parents up for failure.
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Myths and Concerns Concurrent planning will cause case
managers to give up on birth parents too quickly, or to not sincerely work on reunification efforts.
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Myths and Concerns Concurrent planning just means having a
back up plan, you don’t actually have to do any work on this plan until you know for sure that reunification is not going to happen.
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Myths and Concerns You can do concurrent planning anytime
during the life of a case.
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Myths and Concerns When DFCS implements concurrent
planning, every child in foster care will have to have a concurrent plan.
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Myths and Concerns Resource parents will sabotage the
reunification efforts because they just want to adopt.
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Agenda
Foundational Matters Concurrent Planning Nationally Concurrent Planning in Georgia The Trials & Tribulations of CP at the
County Level Questions & Answers
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STATE COUNTY
Conveying the Message
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1. Staff Challenges
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2. Restructuring the Agency Implementing Mirrored Units New Terminology for My 6 F.P.’s
Partnership Parents: (formerly foster parents): refers to individuals who provide temporary care for children who are placed in out-of-the-home and are in the temporary custody of DFCS. PP are expected to engage in some level of partnership with the birth parents of children in their home, and to actively work with the birth parents toward reunification.
Resource Parents: Refers to a subset of PP who are reserved as resources for children with concurrent plans. These parents also work in partnership with birth parents toward reunification, but they also agree to be the child’s permanent resource IF reunification is not successful.
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3. Forced Creativity The Visitation Center
The First 48
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4. Limits in Data Systems
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5. Learning Lessons the Hard Way
Strategic Permanency Planning from the Start:
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Questions?“Concurrent Planning will Not Produce Miracles,
and Expectations Should Reflect as Much.”
Resources: DFCS Concurrent Planning Resources
www.dfcs.dhr.georgia.gov/training
National Resource Center for Permanency & Family Connections www.nrcpfc.org
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