The Multisite Accelerated Permanency Project: Permanency Roundtables as a Strategy to Help Older Youth in Foster Care Achieve Legal Permanency

The Multisite Accelerated Permanency Project (MSAPP) implemented permanency roundtables (PRTs) to increase legal permanency rates for older youth in foster care. PRTs are structured meetings intended to expedite legal permanency (defined as adoption, guardianship, or reunification) for youth by involving experts from both inside and outside child welfare agencies in creative and concrete case planning. The target population of this study included older youth (median age = 17years) who faced the most challenges in achieving legal permanency, most of whom had a case goal of another planned permanent living arrangement. In 2010, 726youth participated in PRTs in 4states through MSAPP. One year after the roundtables, 8.5% of the youth achieved legal permanency. Although the rate of achieving legal permanency was low, other benefits were realized through the process, including increased staff understanding of the importance of legal permanency and identification of strategies to address barriers to achieving legal permanency. Improving rates of achieving legal permanency for older youth in foster care in the future will require effective implementation and evaluation of innovative approaches, including thorough family finding; strategic use of concurrent planning, judicial reviews, and ancillary services; and greater alignment among practice, agencies, policy, and research.