March/April 2001Vol. 2, No. 2Permanency Planning Barriers and Training Tools
Children with developmental disabilities and adolescents face greater hurdles in finding permanent families, in part due to policies and practices that work against them.
A new policy research brief by the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota explains the barriers that interfere with permanency planning for children with developmental disabilities. A tool kit developed for child welfare supervisors makes the case for permanency of adolescents and offers materials to train staff in planning for permanency, regardless of what program, track, or system the youth is in.
- Do We Really Mean Families for All Children? Permanency Planning for Children with Developmental Disabilities
- Adolescents & Families for Life: A Toolkit for Supervisors
In Do We Really Mean Families for All Children? Permanency Planning for Children with Developmental Disabilities, author Nancy Rosenau points out that children with developmental disabilities living in residential facilities are not afforded the same protections as children in the child welfare system. The following were identified as threats to permanency:
- Faulty assumptions that children with disabilities do not need family life and that their parents should not be questioned about their unwillingness to raise them.
- Treatment needs that overshadow permanency needs.
- Family support programs that focus on placement rather than permanency.
- Conflicting family member needs and parental choice of non-family placement.
- Mismatched resources and needs.
- Placement decisions based on crisis management rather than alternate family recruitment.
Citing statistics and studies, Rosenau attempts to dispel misconceptions that some children with disabilities cannot live with families, alternate families cannot be found, and birth parents refuse to accept another family. She calls for improved data collecting about out-of-home placements for children with disabilities and a renewed commitment to permanency by States, local governments, and service providers.
A copy of Do We Really Mean Families for All Children? Permanency Planning for Children with Developmental Disabilities is available online at http://ici.umn.edu/products/prb/112/default.html or in print for $2 by contacting:
Institute on Community Integration
University of Minnesota
109 Pattee Hall
150 Pillsbury Dr., SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-624-4512
Another publication, Adolescents & Families for Life: A Toolkit for Supervisors, provides practical training ideas to promote permanency for adolescents. Authors Robert G. Lewis and Maureen S. Heffernan provide exercises and information to convince workers that teens need, want, and are able to achieve permanent family connections. The 27 mini workshops focus on the following topics:
- importance of permanency for adolescents
- adolescent development
- helping teens accept permanent family relationships
- system barriers
- identifying established connections
- supporting the permanent placement
- introductory information about adoption and kinship
The toolkit provides training tips, overviews of key objectives for each section, suggested group exercises, handouts, and a CD-ROM of PowerPoint slides.
To purchase a copy of the toolkit ($59.95 + $7.50 postage & handling/each; add 5% sales tax in Massachusetts), send check payable to:
Robert G. Lewis
High Popples Press
4 Mayflower Lane
Gloucester, MA 01930-4321
Phone: 978-281-8919
Fax: 978-281-4866
Email: rglewis@highpopples.com
Related Items
For articles examining other permanency planning issues, see "Spotlight on the National Resource Centers" in the September issue of the Children's Bureau Express (http://www.calib.com/cbexpress):
