May 2010Vol. 11, No. 4Logic Model for Youth Permanency

In 2005, the Children's Bureau funded nine demonstration projects through an Adoption Opportunities grant, "Improving Permanency Outcomes by Developing Services and Supports for Youth Who Wish to Retain Contact With Family Members" (the Permanency cluster). The following article describes the development and purpose of the cluster's logic model.

The Children's Bureau routinely requires applicants for funding to include a logic model as part of their application. This requirement helps the applicants—and later, the grantees—articulate how their funded activities relate to their desired outcomes. The logic model describes the resources that will be required, the planned program activities, and what the program intends to achieve (commonly called "outcomes").

The nine grantees in the Children's Bureau's Permanency cluster all developed their own logic models as part of their grant applications and were familiar with the benefits of this process. So, about 2 years into their funding period, when they found that they needed a good visual way to explain what the cluster as a whole was doing, they turned to a new logic model. Using the nine individual logic models, an overall logic model was developed for the whole cluster. It included the factors and processes common to the individual grantees.

The resulting logic model included six types of components:

• Inputs (e.g., funding, staff, partners)
• Core services (e.g., build youth empowerment in permanency process, recruit potential families)
• Outputs (e.g., percentage of case files mined, number of inquiries from families wanting to adopt)
• Short-term outcomes (e.g., .youth increase knowledge about permanency options, youth establish positive relationships with adults)
• Intermediate outcomes (e.g., youth increase feelings of empowerment, youth maintain connections with adults)
• Long-term outcomes (e.g., increased permanency for youth, including open adoption)

This logic model continues to provide a good backdrop for the work of the cluster and is an important visual representation of the process that the grantees follow to achieve permanency for youth. The format of the logic model emphasizes both the wide range of activities as well as the common goals of the nine grantees, demonstrating that there are many ways to increase permanency for older youth in foster care.

To view the Permanency cluster's logic model, visit the National Resource Center for Adoption website:

www.nrcadoption.org/youthpermanencycluster/logic.html

Many thanks to Kate Lyon, of James Bell Associates, who provided the information for this article and serves as a technical assistance provider for the cluster.