Permanence in foster care means establishing stable, long-term living arrangements that provide a foster child with love, safety, and security. The primary goal for permanency is reunification, where children return to their biological families once a safe environment is restored. If reunification is not possible, adoption can provide a permanent solution. Guardianship also offers a long-term but temporary alternative, allowing parents time to improve conditions while a trusted adult provides care. When all other options are unavailable, Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA) serves as a last resort, keeping children in foster care until they age out, though it lacks the true permanence needed for full stability.

Permanence is a term associated with the long-term care plan for a child in the foster care system. It’s the goal of Georgia’s Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) or any private foster care agency in the state to find permanent, stable living arrangements for foster children where they are loved, safe, and taken care of.

When talking about permanence, it’s easy to assume that it’s all about the legal status of the child, the biological parents, and the current caregiver. However, conversations about permanence should also include the child’s emotional and mental security, the strength of their attachments with family members or caregivers, and their overall sense of identity.

Why Is Permanence Important for Foster Children?

Having a sense of belonging, safety, and security is a crucial part of the human experience, especially for children and young adults. We all want to know that we belong, that we are safe, and that our security in life is not threatened.

Children in foster care have already experienced a security-threatening shake-up at least once before. It’s rattling enough to be pulled from the only home a child has ever known and placed into a stranger’s home within hours. Plus, you have to consider the negative actions or behaviors that would cause the state to pull the child from their home and family in the first place. All combined, it’s fair to assume a foster child’s sense of belonging, safety, and security is either on thin ice or demolished altogether.

Helping the child reestablish stability and security through permanence, especially permanence they can trust, can be difficult but necessary.

Is Permanency the Same as Adoption?

Permanency and adoption are sometimes used interchangeably, and for a fair reason. Adoption is one of the most well-known forms of permanency for a child in foster care, but it’s not the only type of permanency a foster child can benefit from. So, while all forms of adoption are considered permanency, not all instances of permanency involve adoption.  

What Are the Different Types of Permanency for a Child in Foster Care?

There are several ways to establish permanency for a child in foster care, including:

Reunification

Reunification is the first and most preferred form of permanency for a child in the foster care system. Reunification involves the child returning to their biological family once the parents have proven themselves able to create and maintain a much safer and more stable home environment for the child.

Throughout the child’s time in foster care, the biological parents, their case manager, and other involved professionals should work to foster an environment that the parents can manage and that the child can safely return to. In some cases, reunification is either improbable or not possible, but the first goal in foster care should always be reunification.

Adoption

When reunification is no longer an option, adoption is a viable, legal way to provide permanence for a child in foster care. Adoption is the act of taking legal responsibility for a child who is not biologically yours, welcoming the child into your family permanently and becoming their parent.

When it comes to adopting a child in foster care, there are two primary options:

• Kinship adoption: A family member of the child (Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or even siblings) adopts the child and becomes their legal guardian.
• Non-kinship adoption: A non-blood relative adopts the child and becomes their legal guardian.

Regardless of the type of adoption a family might pursue, it first requires the biological parents to voluntarily terminate their parental rights or have their paternal rights involuntarily terminated by the court, so long as it is in the child’s best interest. Involuntary termination of parental rights is only possible when the parents have been proven not to provide safe and stable conditions for the child. Grounds for termination can include repeated abandonment, neglect, or abuse of the child.

Guardianship

Guardianship is a court-appointed arrangement in which the biological parent’s rights are still intact, but a relative or other trusted adult is granted official custody of the child. For instance, a court can appoint a child’s grandparents as the custodians of the child without completely removing the parents’ legal rights.

While adoption is a permanent solution to permanence, guardianship offers long-term but temporary permanence. Guardianship gives the parents the ability to make necessary changes to their home environment needed to eventually get the child back, while the child benefits from the long-term permanence that a guardianship arrangement provides.

Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA)

APPLA applies when reunification, adoption, or guardianship are not options. In most APPLA cases, the child stays in foster care, ideally with a committed foster parent, until it’s time to age out of the system. APPLA is the least desired form of permanence as it does not provide the child with a truly permanent living arrangement, which can negatively impact their sense of stability, safety, and security.

Want to learn more about permanence or the rewarding benefits of caring for a foster child on their road to permanence? Talk to Generational Child Care about becoming a foster parent today! 

The team at Generational Child Care would love to share more about the importance of permanence in a foster child’s life and speak with you about the possibility of becoming a foster parent. Fostering allows you to become a valuable part of a child’s journey to permanence, something the hundreds of thousands of foster children in Georgia need.

Learn more by calling 478-477-1289 or emailing us at info@generationalchildcare.com.  

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