Project PA: Experts Discuss Importance of Permanency Toolkit

Last week, we broke the exclusive story about former foster kids using their experiences to create a permanency toolkit for child welfare professionals.

The goal is to increase the number of kids who find a permanent home once they exit the system.

The numbers may seem staggering.

49% of more than 8,000 teens in Pennsylvania age out of the foster care system each year.

Many are forced onto the streets with no place to call home.

Professionals we spoke with tell us this concerns them, because those numbers haven’t improved in decades.

When it comes to permanency in foster care, Cathy Moffa and Marcia Hopkins with Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia say we're missing the mark nationwide.

"I think for me as a professional, I'm getting tired of hearing the same statistics over and over,” Hopkins said.

Project PA Exclusive I Former foster kids develop action plan to tackle permanency issue

Here's what those statistics look like:

• Each year in the U.S., more than 20,000 youth age out of foster care without permanent family connections or stability
• Within 18 months, between 40 to 50 percent become homeless

"I like for us to keep dwindling that number. It's been like 20,000 for quite some time. So, I think having tools like this are really trying to change our framework around permanency. It will help us keep decreasing that number,” Hopkins said.

The "tools" she's referring to is "Tools for Success".

Both experts helped the group "Youth Fostering Change" at J.L.C. develop the initiative.

The goal is to connect more foster kids with a permanent home before they age out of the system.

In Pennsylvania, that number is about 8,000 each year.

" There are tools in place that can help this process, they just don't seem to be utilized. So, the planning should start as soon as a young person enters into care. They're supposed to be talked to about what would work for them, but they're not,” Moffa said.

Moffa says instead of including kids in the permanency process, many child welfare experts are making major decisions without their input.

"So a lot of young people find they are put in places that's far away from a community they feel comfortable to, or a school where they don't know anybody. Or even worse they don't get along with people in that school,” Moffa said.

If the fit isn't right, these experts say kids are moved around from home to home until they find a family they connect with.

If that never happens, they'll eventually age out of the system and end up as another statistic.

"It shouldn't be that every foster home is a temporary home for someone. It should be that that person is trying to create that connection from the second that they move into that home,” Moffa said.

Hopkins and Moffa tell us they ultimately hope "Tools for Success" helps reduce that nationwide number of 20,000 to something much more manageable.

"Our end goal really is for them to have those permanent connections, that is actually what it's for. So young people should be leaving with permanent connections,” Hopkins said.

“Tools for Success” toolkit can be viewed here.