This presentation highlights ways states can reduce the use of Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA) and improve permanency outcomes for older youth in foster care.

1. Improving Permanency Outcomes for Older Youth:
Leveraging the Strengthening Families Act
AUGUST 9, 2016
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• Dec. 8, 2015: Creating Effective Normalcy Policies
• Jan. 26, 2016: Effective Court Oversight to Support and Enforce Normalcy
and Youth Engagement
• March 28, 2016: Keeping Systems Accountable in the Implementation of SFA
• May 26, 2016: Maximizing Youth Engagement in Court Reviews
and Case Planning
• TODAY: Improving Permanency Outcomes for Older Youth
• FINAL SESSION: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 (2 p.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern)
Model Extension of Care and Re-Entry Policies —
Creating a Legal Structure That Promotes Engagement
For links to recordings of past webinars, please contact Molly Coplan at mcoplan@aecf.org.
Webinar Series Review

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Questions?

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• Hope Cooper, Child Welfare Consultant, True North Group
hope@truenorthgroup.com
• Gail Johnson Vaughan, Director Emerita/Chief Permanency Officer,
Families NOW
gail@familiesnow.org
www.familiesnow.org
• Jenny Pokempner, Child Welfare Policy Director, Juvenile Law Center
jpokempner@jlc.org
www.jlc.org
Moderator
Molly Coplan, Program Assistant, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Today’s Presenters

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• SFA’s permanency
provisions
• Promising practices for
improving permanency
outcomes for older youth
• Effectively implementing
the permanency
provisions through
innovative policies
Agenda

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On September 30, 2014
• 415,129 youth
were in the U.S. child
welfare system
• 33,942 youth
(or 8%) had the goal of
long-term foster care or
emancipation
Data Snapshot
22,392
The number of youth in 2014
exited the child welfare system
with the exit reason of
emancipation.

7. LEGAL BACKGROUND AND
REQUIREMENTS
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8. SFA’s Three Main Areas
P.L. 113-183
Well-Being
Normalcy,
Youth Engagement,
Transition Planning and
Discharge Documents
Permanency
Reduction of APPLA*,
Successor Guardianship,
Financial Incentives for
Permanency
Safety
Trafficking and
Runaway Provisions
*APPLA = Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement
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• Return home
• Adoption
• Guardianship
• Placement with a fit
and willing relative
• APPLA
The Federal Framework:
Permanency Hierarchy

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• Relative notification within 30 days of removal
42 U.S.C.A. § 671 (a)(29)
• Preference to place children with relatives
42 U.S.C.A.§ 671 (a)(29)
• Requirement that reasonable efforts be made to place
siblings together and ensure visitation if joint placement
cannot be done safely
42 U.S.C.A. § 671 (a)(31)
Permanency-Related Requirements
and Incentives

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• Extended adoption and kinship guardianship subsidies
42 U.S.C.A. § 675 (8)(B)
• Medicaid benefits until 26 for youth adopted or entering
guardianships at 18 or older
• Education and Training Vouchers and independent living services
for youth adopted or entering guardianships at 16 or older
42 U.S.C.A. §§ 677 (a)(7) & (i)(2)
• Independent-student status for the purposes of FAFSA* for youth
in foster care at 13 or older or in a guardianship arrangement
before reaching the age of majority
20 USC § 1087vv(d)(1)
Permanency-Related Requirements
and Incentives
*FAFSA = Free Application for Federal Student Aid

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• Extended foster care allows youth to access support services past 18
if they have not achieved permanency
• The obligation to make efforts and provide services to achieve
permanency continues until youth is 21 or exits care
• Fostering Connections required states that extended foster care to
also prolong adoption and kinship guardianship subsidies
• Early results from Chapin Hall’s CalYouth Study show extended care:
– Has not negatively affected permanency outcomes, but
– Has reduced exits from care by youth running away and leaving
without a discharge plan
Fostering Connections, Extended Foster Care
And Permanency

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• APPLA is prohibited for youth under 16
• To select or maintain APPLA, the court:
– Must determine whether the agency has documented intensive,
ongoing, unsuccessful efforts to achieve reunification, adoption,
guardianship or placement with a fit and willing relative
– Must find APPLA is the best permanency plan for the child
– Must find there is a compelling reason it is not in the youth’s best
interest to return home, be placed for adoption, enter
guardianship or be placed with a fit and willing relative
42 U.S.C. §§ 675(a)(2)(A) & (a)(3)
SFA’s Permanency Planning Requirements

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• If APPLA is the proposed permanency plan, the court:
– must ask the child about their desired permanency outcome;
– must confirm the agency is taking steps to ensure the reasonable
and prudent parent standard is being exercised; and
– must ensure the agency has documented that the child has regular,
ongoing opportunities to engage in age- or developmentally
appropriate activities
• These findings and inquiries must occur at least at each permanency
hearing until the case is closed
42 U.S.C. §§ 675a(a)(2)(A) & (a)(3)
SFA’s Permanency Planning Requirements

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Pre and Post-SFA Comparison

16. What are Intensive, Ongoing Efforts?
Full array
of permanency
services have been
provided
Services
were tried
multiple times
Barriers
to permanency
and strategies to
address barriers
are identified
The youth
has been engaged
in permanency efforts
The youth
understands
permanency options
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17. What the Court Should See to Approve an APPLA
Documentation of the following criteria:
• A stable living arrangement or placement that is the least
restrictive possible
• Services being provided to meet well-being and special needs
• The relationships the youth has with caring adults
• The permanency services that will continue to be provided
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18. Why Outcomes Should Improve with SFA
• Evidentiary and procedural bars should be higher to get to APPLA,
improving case planning and delivery of permanency services as
well as a greater investment and availability of innovative
permanency services
• Requiring courts to speak with youth about permanency should
result in the youth’s team fully engaging and explaining
what permanency is and how it can be achieved
• Focusing on normalcy in the case plan and in court
should provide youth more opportunities to
establish supportive connections that
could lead to permanency
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• Ensure normalcy and youths’ connections to the community are
prioritized in case planning and court
• Ensure the system has sufficient capacity to provide innovative and
diverse permanency services, including:
– Targeted placement prevention for adolescents
– Trauma-informed permanency services and sufficient treatment
to address trauma, grief and loss
– Reunification and family engagement services for older youth who
have been in the system for extended periods of time
– Enhanced post-permanency services
What Actions Should We Be Taking?

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• Ensure permanency barriers are identified with a plan to address them.
Barriers could include:
– Myths or preconceptions about older youth permanence
– Readiness of youth
– Identification of permanency resources
– Capacity/need for support of resource to support youth
 Financial support
 Service support
 Training
 Advocacy
What Actions Should We Be Taking?

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• Ensure youth are meaningfully engaged in permanency planning.
Engagement includes:
– Make sure they know what permanency is, how to achieve it
– Address their fears, concerns and attitudes about building
relationships and permanency
– Involve them in identifying, connecting with permanency resources,
including family and others they find important
What Actions Should We Be Taking?

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• Myth: It’s better not to leave foster care to permanency so you can
continue to have access to benefits
• Myth: Achieving permanency means you can’t have a relationship
with your biological family
• Myth: When a youth hits a certain age, the focus should be the
development of independent living skills, not permanency
• Myth: It’s too late to work on permanency for older youth
• Myth: Respecting youth voice means accepting their “no” to
permanency without further inquiry or work
Debunking the Myths

23. WHAT WORKS
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24. Services and Practices to Advance
Older Youth Permanency
• Family Strengthening and Family Connections
‒ Family preservation and reunification services
‒ Family finding and kinship notification
‒ Kinship and guardianship assistance
‒ Pre- and post-permanency supports
‒ Extended permanency subsidies
• Youth Voice
‒ Youth-led planning and decision making
‒ Youth involvement in court
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• Workforce improvements
‒ Training in adolescent development
‒ Trauma-informed training
‒ Child-specific recruitment
‒ Culture and attitude changes
• Relational permanency
‒ Mentorship
• Family-based care
‒ Quality foster parenting
‒ Promoting normalcy
‒ Limiting group care settings, focusing on treatment needs
Services and Practices to Advance
Older Youth Permanency

26. INNOVATIVE POLICY REFORM
CALIFORNIA’S YOUTH PERMANENCY MOVEMENT
AND AB 1879
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27. Permanency: A Moral and Fiscal Imperative
• Proving it is possible to find permanent families
for “hard-to-place” youth, young people 18-21
• Keeping them in foster care is costly, results in
dismal adult outcomes
• Money saved placing them with permanent
families far outweighs costs of effective child-
centered specialized permanency services
Costs are recouped, often in same fiscal year,
freeing up funds for other critical local needs
How many legs
does the
elephant have?
Things aren’t
always as they seem
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Enter Youth Permanency Movement

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Challenge Prevailing Beliefs

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Change Organizational Culture

31. Best Practices
More than 15 years’ experience points to these effective efforts:
• Child-centered services designed with child, young person
• Services targeting child’s history of trauma, separation and loss
• Mental health care to heal trauma, open youth to permanency
• Family Finding and Engagement
• Child-specific recruitment
• Adoption/permanency-competent preparation, support for families
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Lessons Learned
• Best practices are not enough: Must address systemic barriers, shift
beliefs, instill what-ever-it-takes culture throughout organization
• Programs with external partners yield best results
• Involve judiciary and attorneys early
• Make the youth “real” to potential families
• Provide pre- and post-adoption/permanency support to families
• Permanency best practices have double bottom line:
‒ Improved permanency outcomes
‒ Fiscal savings
• Support of “electeds” for fiscal investments key to driving high ROI

33. Making the Financial Case:
Example 1a: Youth in California adopted at 14
Group home (Level 12) $107,220
Minus adoption subsidy $ 15,000
Annual savings $ 92,220
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $92,220 x 4 years = $368,880
Estimated one-time cost of
specialized permanency services = $12,000
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34. Example 1b: Youth in Guardianship at 14
Group home (Level 12) $107,220
Minus guardianship subsidy $ 7,419
Annual savings $ 99,801
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $99,801 x 4 = $399,204
Estimated one-time cost
of specialized permanency services = $12,000
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35. Example 1c: Youth With 2nd Chance Reunification at 14
Group home (Level 12) $107,220
No subsidy $ 0
Annual savings $ 107,220
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $107,220 x 4 years = $428,880
Estimated one-time cost
of specialized permanency services = $12,000
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36. Example 2a: Youth Adopted at 14
Foster family agency $24,312
Minus adoption subsidy $12,000
Annual savings $12,312
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $12,312 x 4 = $49,248
Approximate one-time cost
of specialized permanency services = $12,000
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37. Example 2b: Youth in Guardianship at 14
Foster family agency $24,312
Minus guardianship subsidy $ 7,419
Annual savings $16,893
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $16,893 x 4 = $67,572
Approximate one-time cost
of specialized permanency services = $12,000
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38. Example 2c: Youth With 2nd Chance Reunification at 14
Foster family agency $24,312
No subsidy $ 0
Annual savings $24,312
Number of years savings accrue = 4
Total savings: $24,312 x 4 = $97,248
Approximate one-time cost
of specialized permanency services = $12,000
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39. Typical savings from youth permanency
for California counties without Title IV-E waivers (per child/per year)
Total Annual
County Savings
Adoption from Foster Family Agency Home $10,411
Adoption from Group Home Level 10 $57,291
Adoption from Group Home Level 14 $76,852
Kin Guardianship from Foster Family Agency Home $11,873
Kin Guardianship from Group Home Level 12 $69,864
Reunification from Foster Family Agency Home $16,411
Reunification from Group Home Level 10 $64,791
Savings accrue for each year youth would have
remained in care
FamiliesNOW.org
Savings With Youth Permanency
Youth 12 to 21 by Placement and Permanency Type (July 2015)
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40. Includes costs for
specialized youth permanency services!
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FamiliesNOW.org
Sample Total County Savings
For 40 Youths Achieving Permanency at 14 in CA

41. • Target level of government where
savings accrue
• Build coalition of support
• Use policy improvement AND
legislative strategies — sometimes
litigation strategies are what it takes
• California’s permanency legislation
– AB 1790 (2014) improves access
to experienced mental health
providers with specialized training
– AB 1879 (2016)
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How to Advocate for Permanency

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AB 1879: Innovative Legislative Approach
to Promote Permanency
• Defines child-centered specialized permanency services
• Requires court to order child-centered specialized permanency
service for children and youth who have no viable option for
permanency with family and no prospective adoptive parents or
guardians (including probation-supervised youth in foster care)
• Provides prospective adoptive families and guardians information
about working with mental health professionals with specialized
training and experience in adoption/permanency clinical issues
• Read text of the bill: http://goo.gl/lT5NJ2

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Child-Centered Specialized Permanency Services
• Designed for and with child
• Address child’s history of trauma, separation and loss
• Include mental health (and other) services, as needed, to alleviate
impairments in significant areas of life functioning that may impede
child’s placement with a permanent family
• Use Family Finding and Engagement to locate relatives
• Use child-specific recruitment
• Prepare family to meet child’s needs, set appropriate expectations
for pre- and post-permanency and stabilize placement

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Legislative Update
• Sailed through initial policy committees with strong support
• Died in suspense (misinformation that led bill to be priced too high)
• New bill to be introduced in next legislative session
– Tighter language to clarify low costs
– Improved based on talks with state child welfare agency
• Raised awareness of effective specialized permanency services
• Not needed for counties to engage child-centered specialized
permanency services

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Improvements in New Bill
• Will define child-centered specialized “service elements”
• Will require inclusion of child-centered specialized service elements,
as needed, to finalize a placement in child’s permanency plan
• Will not require court to order services, determine compliance with
child-centered specialized permanency service elements in the plan
• Will define “intensive and ongoing efforts” and require court to
ensure they have been provided to youth with an APPLA
• Will add language to clarify applicable existing funding for services

46. Additional Resources
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Visit familiesnow.org/tools-and-resources/permanency/
• AB 1879 fact sheet
• Bill info
• Typical CA savings
• Funding Youth Permanency Guide
• Older Youth Adoption report

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For additional information
www.aecf.org/work/child-welfare/jim-casey-youth-opportunities-initiative/
Questions?

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