Permanence and 'Permanence': Outcomes of Family Placements

This article describes a follow-up of a complete cohort of fifty-nine children involved in care proceedings (legal proceedings to determine whether a local authority should be given parental responsibility for a child) in the year 2004-05 in an English local authority. The study took place between four and six years after the conclusion of proceedings. It looked, first, at whether the plan agreed at the final hearing had been implemented and (where relevant) what had happened in the interim. Second, it looked at whether placements had been successful, factors associated with success or failure, and the nature and outcome of new plans when these had had to be made. At the time of the study, the care plans of 97 per cent of the children had been implemented, either immediately or within eighteen months. Sixty-six per cent of the children were still in their designated permanent placements, 15 per cent had experienced moves either within or back to their immediate or extended family and 15 per cent had experienced a placement breakdown. The reasons for changes and breakdowns are discussed and the possibility raised that a more flexible approach to permanency might, in some cases, be helpful.