Permanency rates are declining for older youth in foster care.

One in four youth exiting foster care lack lasting connections to family or supportive adults. FosterClub believes that meaningful relationships post-care significantly enhance their chances to thrive.


Why it matters

Young people in foster care often struggle to form lasting, supportive relationships. Such enduring and supportive relationships have proven to aid former foster youth in securing housing, education, and stable jobs. Professionals working with these youth should prioritize reconnecting them with birth families, chosen families, and other supportive figures through various means, including mentorship and community involvement.

There are 3 different types of permanency: 

Legal Permanency

Legal family relationships like adoptive parents

Relational Permanency

Emotionally supportive relationships like a teacher or mentor

Cultural Permanency

Feeling connected to one’s culture/traditions

Quick Facts

  • Youth who exit care without permanency are more likely to experience homelessness, poverty, and/or mental health challenges (source). 
  • Black and Native American youth are less likely to have supportive adult relationships after exiting foster care. (source)
  • 1 in 4 youth in foster care will live in a group placement setting (source). Youth in group placements are less likely to have supportive relationships with adults after exiting care (source).

“When I started high school, my life was in a downward spiral. I was fortunate enough to have some people that recognized that I had something better to offer and that I had the choice to change my life around. Without these people, I don’t know if I’d be here today.”

— Former foster youth


Tools you can use

  • When thinking about how to help foster youth maintain permanent relationships, always let lived experience guide your process. Here is what our friends at the National Foster Youth Advisory Council had to say about promoting permanency.
  • Visit Coaching is a program to help birth parents connect with their kids during family visitation.
  • Here is a fact sheet of how caregivers can connect with birth parents in the hopes of family reunification.

“They have each been very supportive of my goals. Never held judgment or bias against me for things that occurred previous to or while in care. Even after care.

— Former foster youth from Oklahoma


How we're working on this issue

Journey to Success Campaign

FosterClub helps lead the Journey to Success Campaign, championing the rights of older foster youth, especially their right to permanency. Through Washington DC visits, virtual training for child welfare professionals, and informative briefs, FosterClub collaborates with esteemed partners like Think of Us, American Academy of Pediatrics, Youth Law Center, and Partnership for America’s Children to amplify its impact.

National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Policy Council Priorities

The National Foster Care Youth + Alumni Policy Council's LEx members inform federal policymakers about real-life foster care experiences and advocate for vital child welfare reforms. For over a decade, they've emphasized the importance of permanency in the foster care system. Explore their priority statements here, here, and here.

FosterClub's Permanency Pact

FosterClub's Permanency Pact is a collaborative tool, developed with LEx and adults, designed to assist youth and their support teams in achieving lasting permanency.

Want to Learn More?

LGBTQ2S+ Youth in the Foster Care System from Human Rights Campaign and FosterClub

LGBTQ in Child Welfare from the Annie E. Casey Foundation

How can child welfare agencies effectively support LGBTQ+ youth in care? from Casey family Programs

Blogs on Permanence

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*New* Recommendations from the Youth Engagement Team: Improving Permanency & Well-Being

Today, the All-In Youth Engagement Team released it's recommendations on Improving Permanency and Well-Being. These recommendations come from three roundtable discussions were held with the Youth Engagement Team and ACF Assistant Secretary Lynn Johnson, Commissioner Elizabeth Darling, and Associate Commissioner Jerry Milner. The topics discussed were 1) supporting permanency with kin, 2) supporting relational permanency and 3) supporting successful older...

Adoption
Family relationships
Permanence
Well-being
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All-In Campaign: Youth Engagement Team Members

In October 2020, the All-In Campaign Youth Engagement Team was launched with eleven young people with lived experience in foster care, led by Youth Engagement Coordinator, Joshua Christian Oswald. Learn more about why these young leaders are passionate about permanency and successfully supporting young people in permanency. Alex Oleson.png Alex Oleson is currently a member of the Youth Engagement Committee...

Permanence
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Youth Share Why Family Connections Matter

We asked youth to share how they stay connected with family (including parents & siblings), and why staying connected is important to them. Check out what they had to say, and learn why family connections matter. Interested in contributing your voice? Watch for our prize drawing here and the next contest! Virtually Connected! by Cheyenne Contest Blog.png My mom, her...

Permanence
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Contest: Foster Love in February

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED - THANK YOU FOR ENTERING! The young people of foster care never cease to amaze us. We invited FosterClub's youth to contribute their voice to our Foster Love in February contest by sharing poems and stories of ways they stay connected to family, and why that is important to them. We published several of their quotes...

Permanence
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Permanence

In my childhood and early adolescence I had never had a supportive person that gave me hope or encouragement. Throughout my life I had heard horror stories of foster care. It was something I feared more than the situation I was in with my own family. The stigma of foster care scared me away from trying to reach safety. However...

Family relationships
Permanence
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Informing the Court: What Permanency Means for Young People

In court, permanency is often talked about from a legal standpoint, but we know that permanency can mean something different for young people who experience foster care. One of FosterClub’s Young Leaders, David Hall, recently had the opportunity to share his experiences around permanency in a webinar hosted by the Capacity Building Center for Courts and attended by members of...

Permanence