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In a recent survey of child welfare professionals across the United States, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, 90% of participants said legal permanency should be the goal for every child waiting in foster care. But professionals working tirelessly to achieve permanency for the youth in their care also know all too well that the journey can be challenging.    

For more than two decades, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has provided training and resources to help child welfare professionals find safe, permanent homes for the longest-waiting children in foster care. In our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids^® program’s role as an additional resource on a child’s team, several practices have proven effective in serving older youth, children with special needs and siblings who are most at risk of aging out of the system without a family.   

Here are 5 best practices to help achieve legal permanency for the youth you serve.   

1. Partner with the child’s team

There are many people who impact a child’s journey to permanency — from caseworkers, to family of origin, to CASAs, to judicial officers, to foster parents and other caregivers. A strong, team-based approach — united by a shared goal — is essential to supporting children in foster care. 

Start by identifying who is serving in what role, what type of relationship they have with the youth and how you can work together to find them a permanent, loving family. It is also important to meet regularly to ensure timely permanency planning, while keeping the child’s voice at the center of every conversation. 

2. Establish a trusting relationship with the child and involve them in permanency planning

Many children in foster care have experienced unimaginable trauma and loss in their lives, so it is understandable that they would be hesitant to put their faith in another adult. That’s why it is critical to nurture a relationship with youth through ongoing contact. Over time, that approach will foster trust and openness, making the child more willing to share information about their past as well as their hopes, fears and dreams about the future.   

Your conversations may focus on:  

• Who and what is important in the child’s life
• What they want in a permanent family
• How you plan to engage important people in a child’s life to support permanency
• How you will involve the child in permanency planning

Hear from Rylee about how building a relationship with the youth she serves has made all the difference. 

3. Conduct a diligent search within the child’s network

Diligent search involves identifying and contacting as many people as possible who have played a role in the child’s life to help in achieving legal permanency. The case record, when available, can be a valuable resource to gather this information. Caseworkers can search in the file for letters, interview notes, phone messages, scraps of paper, etc. that may reveal relatives and other people in the child’s past who were previously unknown. Public records, obituaries, social media accounts, etc. may also be resources to identify additional connections.   

Learn more from Macie about the process of diligent search and how it led her to find a permanent family for Madison. 

4. Prepare the child for legal permanency

An ongoing assessment of a child’s readiness for legal permanency is critical to a successful placement. Information to gather for assessment includes: 

• The child’s strengths, interests, challenges and beliefs about permanency
• Birth and medical information
• Family background
• Placement history
• Knowledge and skills required to parent the child
• Relationship with their family of origin and the level of openness desired

At the same time you’re preparing a child for permanency, it’s also important to ensure that the family is ready emotionally and socially to meet their needs.  

5. Support the child and their family post-permanency

We know that the legal permanency journey doesn’t end at finalization. Youth who have spent years lingering in foster care due to abuse or neglect may need ongoing support services to work through behavioral, emotional or developmental issues. And families need resources to address these challenges to ensure the well-being of every child.  

Many organizations offer post-permanency services and resources, including:  

• AdoptUSKids 
• Adoptee Mentoring Society 
• Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) 
• Child Welfare Information Gateway 
• Family Equality 
• Families Rising 

The Foundation provides grant funding toward the advancement of best practices in supporting youth and families post permanency and offers a free guide with resources on our website.

Putting Best Practice into Action 

These practices for achieving legal permanency are informed by the Foundation’s evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model. Through our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, recruiters implement the model to find safe, permanent homes for youth most at risk of aging out of foster care without a family. A five-year national evaluation by Child Trends revealed that children referred to the program are up to 3x more likely to be adopted.  

If you serve youth waiting in foster care, explore a list of agencies implementing Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and how you can refer them to the program. 

The Foundation is committed to collaborating with and elevating the impact of child welfare professionals. Join our community to receive stories of impact, insights and tools to support your life-changing work.