Permanency Planning With Youth
When partnering with youth to plan, professionals should first focus on building a trusting and supportive relationship and creating a welcoming space—to allow them to open up and explore their identities and who is important to them. When youth are connected to their roots, they can build strong identities. Providing youth with this foundation will help them as they develop new relationships in permanency. Through youth engagement, professionals and youth can find points of connection together. The resources below will help professionals as they permanency plan with youth.
Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Cultural Competence of Your Support Services
AdoptUSKids
"Being Anti-Racist: A Critical Way to Support Children of Color in Foster Care and Adoption"
Murph-Brown & Stevens
North American Council on Adoptable Children
"Culturally Responsive Engagement and Partnership" [Video]
Capacity Building Center for States
Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Supporting Native Youth Into Adulthood
Capacity Building Center for Tribes
Tribal Customary Adoption
Capacity Building Center for Tribes
Filling in the Identity Blanks: Identity Development Complexity in Adoption
National Adoption Competency Mental Health Initiative
Identity | Understanding Race and Racism
Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition New York
"The Impact of Adoption on Teen Identity Formation"
Small
National Council for Adoption
Living Leadership: Valuing Our Lived Expertise [Video]
Capacity Building Center for States
Moving Beyond Change Efforts: Evidence and Action to Support and Affirm LGBTQI+ Youth
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Moving From Racial Awareness to Racial Identity
Creating a Family
"Nurturing Identity Development in Adolescents Affected by Foster Care" [Video]
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Counselor Education Department
"Supporting Cultural Identity for Children in Foster Care"
Stafanson
American Bar Association
Supporting a Positive Racial Identity for BIPOC Children in Transracial Placements: A Discussion Guide
AdoptUSKids
"Supporting Youth Connections After Adoption"
Oleson
FosterClub
"Transracial Adoption and Fostering: Understanding Race & Racial Identity" [Podcast]
Creating a Family
10 Tips for Helping Teens Explore Adoption
AdoptUSKids
"Engaging Hard to Reach Populations" [Video]
Capacity Building Center for States
"How Teens Are Changing the Way We Collaborate on Permanency"
Baumgartner
North American Council on Adoptable Children
"Listening and Building Trust - A Look Inside Sharing Power in Child Welfare" [Podcast]
Capacity Building Center for States
Meeting Children Where They Are: The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics
Cooke Douglas
National Council for Adoption
"Peer Support Matters: Strategies to Incorporate and Elevate Those With Lived Experience" [Webinar]
AdoptUSKids
Strategies for National and State Groups to Equitably Identify People With Lived Experience
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Youth Engagement for Tribal
National Indian Child Welfare Association