Relational Permanence

The child welfare system focuses on achieving permanence and well-being for all children and adolescents in foster care.  Children leave foster care to legal permanence – adoption, reunification with their birth family, or guardianship – or they “emancipate” from the system, typically at age 18, without achieving any of these three options.

Efforts to achieve legal permanence for all children in foster care should remain central, and specific efforts to increase the number of older youth that achieve legal permanence are urgently needed, however legal permanence for every youth in foster care might not be realistic. Because some youth may enter or re-enter care at age 16 or 17, the child welfare system may not be able to work quickly enough to achieve legal permanence by the time those youth reach age 18 or 19.  Additionally, some youth may resist legal permanence as an option.  Transitioning from foster care to adulthood is incredibly challenging, and this challenge is intensified when a youth doesn’t have a permanent connection to a caring adult.

The child welfare field is beginning to recognize that it must focus on finding caring, committed families for every young person, even when legal permanence is not feasible.  Although not certified by law, relational permanence involves a life-long connection to a caring adult.  Relationships that could be cultivated for permanence include, for example, those with a coach, a teacher, church members or parents of a friend. 

Understanding the developmental paths of youth and how they form relationships with adults in their lives is critical to helping them find permanent connections, both legal and relational, to supportive families.