LINK Families

Project Plans

New Realities

Legal Foundations

Keys to Success

LINK Home

The purpose of this project is to use traditional permanency planning techniques in innovative ways to increase knowledge and improve practices, which support the child's move to a permanent family. Foster adoptive parents, legal, mental health and child welfare staff need skills to insure the best interest of the child is met, while helping the child understand and cope with the ambiguity created by concurrent planning.

The Community-Wide Concurrent Planning Initiative will use three strategies to achieve the project goals and outcomes:

 Training: A comprehensive training program will be provided for children welfare caseworkers, supervisors, legal and mental health professionals. The New York State Citizens' Coalition for Children will design and implement education and skills training workshops for foster and adoptive parents.

Clinical Services: The Salvation Army will provide child, family and couple's therapy to families effected by foster care and/or adoption. Services will focus on helping children resolve the grief, loss, loyalty and attachment issues related to concurrent permanency plans.

Facilitation: An independent facilitator will work with all partners in the child welfare system, to develop community-wide standards and operating protocols which will support collaborative concurrent planning practices. A clinical expert will provide case-specific consultation and facilitation to enhance services for children served by multiple agencies, who do not have a permanency plan.

PARTNERSHIP WITH NYSCCC

Concurrent Planning is defined as working towards reunification while at the same time establishing an alternative permanency plan. The foster/adoptive parents are key resources to help the child understand and handle the ambiguity related to concurrent planning and provide the foundation for a healthy, child focused transition to permanent placement. A strong support system for foster parents is vital to empower them to assist the child through the concurrent planning process. The Community-wide Concurrent Planning Initiative and The New York State Citizen's Coalition for Children are working together to identify at Resource Parent Partners in each of the 14 counties to provide support and mentoring to other foster/adoptive parents. NYSCCC will:

• Plan regional training opportunities for foster care and adoptive parents
• Reach out to connect foster and adoptive parents to project activities
• Develop a regionanl support network of experienced foster and adoptive parents

• To increase concurrent planning skills of foster care/adoption workers at both public and voluntary agencies.
• To increase skills of foster/adoptive parents to deal with child's loyalty, grief and attachment issues related to permanency plan and placement.
• To increase child's ability to cope with loyalty, grief and attachment issues related to permanency plan and placement.
•  To improve systematic coordination of services provided by public and voluntary agencies related to concurrent planning.
• To improve case-specific consultation and services for foster care children when a concurrent plan is in place/being developed.
• To increase knowledge and understanding of concurrent planning for all partners in the child welfare system.

10/11/02