What You Need to Know about Specialized Permanency Services

Specialized permanency services, now required by law in the state of California (AB 1006), are designed to help ensure children and youth (including nonminor dependents) achieve a permanent, loving family—a sense of belonging. Specialized permanency services are designed for and with the child to address the child's history of trauma, separation and loss though intensive family finding and engagement, connection and relationship building, therapeutic and behavioral health services, pro-social activities, child-specific resource parent recruitment, and other individualized services and supports.

WHAT?

Individualized, trauma-informed, culturally relevant, home-based and strength-based efforts to help youth in care obtain familial connections to at least one adult who will provide a permanent, parent-like relationship throughout the child’s life. Relationships with parents, siblings, extended family members, tribes or others important to the youth need to be established and maintained throughout the course of each child’s time in care.

WHO?

• Youth in care with a permanent plan of reunification, adoption, legal guardianship or supportive transition to adulthood
• Youth who have been in care for more than three years
• Youth aged 16 and older with Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA)
• Youth with a Child Specific Transition Plan

WHEN?

Efforts to stabilize, establish and maintain permanency continue throughout the course of each child’s time in care. These efforts do not stop when a youth’s placement becomes stable or when they turn 18. Facilitating the ongoing formation of these bonds is crucial to the preservation of each child’s sense of belonging, self-identity and connection to their culture.

WHERE?

The Child and Family Team (CFT) is the forum that helps facilitate visitation, communication, development and maintenance of supportive connections with members of each youth’s biological and non-biological family. One of the purposes of these meeting is to identify the supports and services needed to enable the youth to be placed in the least restrictive family setting that promotes normal childhood experiences. Services shall be provided until the CFT determines the transition plan is complete, including follow-up services to assure long-term stability of the permanent family.

HOW?

Permanency and Kin Engagement

• Extensive engagement with the youth, family and natural supports
• Use of engagement strategies with professionals who are currently or previously involved with the youth or family
• Use of dedicated software for family finding
• File mining search
• Use of genograms, ecomaps, connectograms or other family finding tools
• Travel expenses for family finding and engagement activities which support the transition plan, in consultation with the CFT
• Supporting and guiding families through the resource family approval (RFA) process and/or certification for Intensive Services Foster Care (ISFC) or Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

A Host of Support Services

Trauma-informed and permanency-competent specialty mental health services may be provided, including wraparound, collateral, intensive care coordination, intensive home-based services or therapeutic behavioral services.

• Medically necessary mental health services
• Extensive case management and coordination
• Other services designed to address the dependent youth’s history of trauma, grief, loss, stigma and rejection that reduce the likelihood of the youth achieving a permanent family
• Permanency support services, as appropriate to achieve, stabilize and sustain the dependent youth in a permanent family
• Services designed to prepare the identified permanent family to meet the youth’s needs, set appropriate expectations before and after permanency is achieved and stabilize the placement
• Child specific, trauma-informed, permanency-focused, youth and caregiver coaching and support including specialized permanency services
• Respite care needs determined in consultation with the CFT.
• Other items determined to be important by the CFT which support the transition plan

It is a best practice to ensure a parent partner and/or youth partner (individual with lived experience) is available to provide support to the youth and family by increasing involvement in the program, and helping them work collaboratively to build skills, confidence and increase natural and community resources. It is important for each family to be linked to natural supports, formal services and community resources to help ensure sustainability of the placement and contribute to the positive well-being of the youth and caregiver.
 

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