Transcript Children and Family Research Center Family Ties: Supporting Permanence for Children in Safe and Stable Foster Care with Relatives and Other Caregivers Mark Testa & Leslie.

Children and Family
Research Center
Family Ties:
Supporting Permanence for Children
in Safe and Stable Foster Care with
Relatives and Other Caregivers
Mark Testa & Leslie Cohen
January 2005
School of Social Work
TM
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
530,000
In U.S. Foster Care, 2002
185,700
In Care > 17 of 22 mos.
46,000
In Relative Foster Care
38,850
In Current Placement > 12 mos.
19,250
Without a goal of
reunification or adoption
Advantages of Guardianship
• Unlike adoption, guardianship does not recast kinship
relations into the nuclear family mold of parent and child.
–
Guardians retain their extended family identities as grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It
does not require the termination of parental rights, which legally estranges children not
only from their birth parents but also from their unadopted siblings. Under guardianship,
children may also retain rights of sibling visitation.
• Birth parents may still exercise a limited role in their
children’s upbringing.
–
They hold on to certain residual rights and obligations, such the rights to visit and
consent to adoption as well as the obligation for child support. If circumstances change,
parents may petition the court to vacate the guardianship and return the children to their
custody, unlike adoption that is consummated only after the birth parents’ rights to
regain custody are permanently extinguished.
• Guardianship limits the financial liability of guardians for
the upkeep of their wards, unlike adoption that reassigns
these financial obligations fully to the adoptive parents.
Guardianship and other permanency initiatives in
Illinois shortened length of care and diminished the
backlog of children in long-term foster care
Wards Moved to Adoption or Guardianship
Statewide (FY86-03)
10,000
25.0%
8,000
20.0%
6,000
15.0%
4,000
10.0%
2,000
5.0%
0
0.0%
86
88
87
90
89
92
91
94
93
96
95
98
97
00
99
02est.
01
03proj.
Fis cal Year
# A d o p tio n s
# G u a r d ia n s h ip sA d o p ./ G u a r d . R a te
Fiscal
Year
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02est.
03proj
Rate
7.0%
6.6%
6.0%
5.2%
5.1%
4.0%
4.1%
4.0%
4.0%
4.5%
4.6%
5.3%
12.0%
22.1%
23.2%
19.6%
17.2%
17.3%
Adop. Guard.
763
714
718
721
788
708
835
1,034
1,200
1,640
1,961
2,229
4,293
7,275
6,281
4,208
3,134
2,867
185
1,276
2,053
1,628
1,134
893
805
Total
763
714
718
721
788
708
835
1,034
1,200
1,640
1,961
2,414
5,569
9,328
7,909
5,342
4,027
3,672
Rate is % of foster care population
moved to adoption or guardianship
In July 2000, Illinois children in
state assisted adoption & guardianship surpassed
children in substitute care
Ingredients of Success
•
•
•
•
•
Eligibility limited to children in foster care
Equal subsidy levels
Rule-out requirement
Safety checks
Strong attachment
SG Increases Legal Permanence
Permanency rates for demonstration and cost neutrality groups
100%
90%
25%
32%
80%
70%
20%
} 7%
60%
50%
40%
64%
30%
51%
20%
10%
0%
4%
4%
demonstration
Reunification
Adoption
cost neutrality
Guardianship
Foster Care
But No Differences in Stability

Proportion still living in the same home in
which they resided at the time of original
assignment in the three research sites was
67% in the cost neutrality group and 69% in
the demonstration group.

The lack of an intervention effect suggests that
the degree of placement stability may be
determined by factors that are independent of
the legal relationship between the child and
caregiver, e.g. familiarity, norms of kinship.
Displacement is rare …
•
As of March 30, 2002, 3.0% had
experienced a displacement from
permanence.
•
Of displacements, one-half were
due to guardian death or
incapacitation
•
Three-fourths of death and
incapacitations involved
reassignment of a new private
guardian.
Disruptions
Intact
Dissolution
Death & Incapacitation
But Post-Permanency Services
are Essential
 To prevent displacement and dissolution
of guardianship & adoption.
–
34% of both private wards & adopted
children identified with special needs.
–
13% of adoptive parents and
guardians over age 65.
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page title here!
Conclusion
• Extrapolating from the Illinois experience
suggests that kinship care is a vast and largely
untapped resource for securing legally
permanent homes for foster children.
• Making subsidized guardianship a provision of
the Social Security Act in addition to subsidized
adoption would greatly expand the options for
ensuring permanence for all children.
Further Information
CONTACT:
Mark Testa or Leslie Cohen
Children and Family Research Center
2 North LaSalle, Suite 1700
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Tel: 312-641-2505
http://cfrcwww.social.uiuc.edu/