Concurrent Planning

Concurrent planning, required by the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, is an approach that seeks to eliminate delays in attaining permanent families for children and youth in foster care. Effective implementation requires comprehensive and early assessment. It involves identifying and working toward a child's primary permanency goal (such as reunification with the birth family) while simultaneously identifying and working on a secondary goal (such as guardianship with a relative). This practice can shorten the time to achieve permanency if efforts toward the primary goal prove unsuccessful because progress has already been made toward the secondary goal.

209: Concurrent Planning
The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center
Provides an overview of the goals and timeline for permanency with a specific emphasis on working with families to develop concurrent child welfare plans.

Concurrent Planning for Permanency for Children
Series Title State Statutes
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability View
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Year Published 2017
Presents an overview of State laws that provide for the development and implementation of an alternative permanency plan concurrently with efforts to reunify the child with his or her family. Compared to more traditional sequential planning for permanency, in which one permanency plan is ruled out before an alternative is developed, concurrent planning may provide earlier permanency for a child. Full-text excerpts of laws for all States and U.S. territories are included.
Concurrent Planning: What the Evidence Shows
Series Title Issue Briefs
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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Year Published 2012
Explores research and practice on concurrent planning, which is an approach that involves considering all reasonable options for permanency at the earliest possible point following a child's entry into foster care. This issue brief reports on how the practice of concurrent planning has evolved over the last decade, what the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) have shown regarding concurrent planning, and the research literature on concurrent planning. Two State examples associated with the successful planning and implementation of concurrent planning in public agencies are presented.

Parent Fact Sheet on Concurrent Planning (PDF - 186 KB)
Families and Communities United (2013)
Explains ways that parents can be active participants in concurrent planning through working with their caseworker and children throughout the process.

A Web-Based Concurrent Planning Toolkit
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
Provides an online tool for States and Tribes to access promising practices, programs, and resources for concurrent planning.