Essay Example on Permanency in Foster Care Units

Permanency is a program, whose aim is to reunite children in the foster care units with their biological families, adoption or guardianship. Poor permanency in the care units is in most cases noticed in children with mental problems and disabilities leading to long-term foster care LTFC. Family and community engagement determines the rate permanency and unification is easy where the parents are involved in their children. The foster youths who need a transition to adulthood face the challenge of poor permanency, and they end up aging in the care units. However, policymakers and advocates made an effort to ensure the permanency is high by enabling adoptions and involving government to support the foster youths.

In most cases, permanency has become difficult, and many children are facing long-term foster care (LTFC) especially those with serious emotional disability SED and developing mental disability DD. There are several barriers which hinder permanency in the foster care units. In most cases, children with mental health problems are facing this issue of LTFC (Akin, 2011). This is because these kids lack social and emotional well-being hence many people do not adopt them. Disabilities in children are another factor which contributes to poor permanency in these units. Parents whose children have a serious emotional disability (SED) face obstacles to permanency due to poverty, trauma, domestic violence and lack of parental care.

Family and community engagement is another factor which determines permanency in the foster care units. A parent or relative involvement contributes to the reuniting of the children with their families (Crampton, 2006). Different groups hold meetings to intervene and discuss the decisions on critical placement hence helping in the permanency of many children in the community. Also, team meetings will help in stimulating parental participation in the discussions on the permanency thus increasing the chances of improving it. The children in the foster units are from different ethical and racial groups hence the need to use family engagement to enable reunification of the children.

Foster youths approaching adulthood lacks people to support their transition to adults, and this contributes to poor permanency in the care units. For this reason, policymakers have been formed in the USA to amend the social security act to support the transition of the foster youths to adults. New fostering connections have been established to increase the adoptions laws which shift from preparing the teens to be independent to involving the government in supporting these youths. Many youths face a lot of challenges during their transition into adulthood because of their education level, substance abuse, physical and mental health, criminal justice involvement, homelessness and family relations. Many of these foster youths cannot independently form transitions into adulthood, and the policymakers and advocates are making efforts to amend policies to help in supporting them (Courtney, 2009). This is done to ensure the permanency of the aging youths in the care units as the units only allow teens with no permanent connection to age in the flats. The policymakers and advocates make efforts to ensure permanency by creating relationships and connections of the foster youths with non-related adults for short and long-term well-being of the teenagers.

Permanency is faced by many barriers in many care units making children have long-term foster care. Children with mental health problems mostly face the challenge of LTFC because they are rarely adopted, and the parents are poor and lack parental care. Family and community engagement with their children in the care units increases the rate of permanency. Policies have been established to help ion adoption and support of the children in care youths especially the youths who need a transition to adulthood.

References

Akin, B. (2011). Predictors of foster care exits to permanency: A competing risks analysis of reunification, guardianship, and adoption. Children and Youth Services Review. Vol 33, Issue 6.

Courtney, M., (2009). The Difficult Transition to Adulthood for Foster Youth in the US: Implications for the State as Corporate Parent. Social Policy Report. School of Social Work, University of Washington

Crampton, D. (2006). When do social workers and family members try family group decision making? A process evaluation. International Journal of Child & Family Welfare. Vol 9, Issue 3.