Through a novel integration of child welfare data, policy analysis, and evidence-informed youth permanency practice, the essays in this volume show how to achieve and sustain family permanence for older children and youth in foster care. Researchers examine what is known about permanency outcomes for youth in foster care, how the existing knowledge base can be applied to improve these outcomes, and the directions that future research should take to strengthen youth permanence practice and policy. Part 1 examines child welfare data concerning reunification, adoption, and relative custody and guardianship and the implications for practice and policy. Part 2 addresses law, regulation, court reform, and resource allocation as vital components in achieving and sustaining family permanence. Contributors examine the impact of policy change created by court reform and propose new federal and state policy directions. Part 3 outlines a range of practices designed to achieve family permanence for youth in foster care: preserving families through community-based services, reunification, adoption, and custody and guardianship arrangements with relatives. As growing numbers of youth continue to "age out" of foster care without permanent families, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have increasingly focused on developing evidence-informed policies, practices, services and supports to improve outcomes for youth. Edited by leading professionals in the field, this text recommends the most relevant and effective methods for improving family permanency outcomes for older youth in foster care.

Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Describing the Problem 1. Foster Youth in Context, by Fred Wulczyn2. A Comparative Examination of Foster Youth Who Did and Did Not Achieve Permanency, by Penelope L. Maza3. Outcomes for Older Youth Exiting the Foster Care System in the United States, by Mark E. Courtney4. Outcomes for Youth Exiting the Foster Care System: Extending What We Know and What Needs to Be Done with Selected Data, by Peter J. Pecora5. Permanence and Impermanence for Youth in Out-of-Home Care, by Richard P. Barth and Laura K. Chintapalli6. Permanence Is a State of Security and Attachment, by Gretta Cushing and Benjamin KermanPart II: Policy Responses to the Permanency Needs of Youth 7. Permanence for Older Children and Youth: Law, Policy, and Research, by Madelyn Freundlich8. Federal Law and Child Welfare Reform: The Research-Policy Interface in Promoting Permanence for Older Children and Youth, by Rosemary J. Avery9. Guardianship and Youth Permanence, by Robert B. Hill10. A Fine Balancing Act: Kinship Care, Subsidized Guardianship, and Outcomes, by Aron Shlonsky11. Dependency Court Reform Addressing the Permanency Needs of Youth in Foster Care: National Evaluation of the Court Improvement Program, by Karl Ensign, Sabrina A. Davis, and Elizabeth Lee12. Facilitation of Systems Reform: Learning from Model Court Jurisdictions, by Shirley A. DobbinPart III: Practice Responses to the Permanency Needs of Youth 13. Permanent Families for Adolescents: Applying Lessons Learned from a Family Reunification Demonstration Program, by Barbara A. Pine and Robin Spath14. Youth Permanence Through Adoption, by Ruth G. McRoy and Elissa Maddenn15. Family-Involvement Meetings with Older Children in Foster Care: Promising Practices and the Challenge of Child Welfare Reform, by David Crampton and Joan Pennell16. Developmentally Appropriate Community-Based Responses to the Permanency Needs of Older Youth Involved in the Child Welfare System, by Sandra Stukes Chipungu, Laura G. Daughtery, and Benjamin Kerman17. Social and Life Skills Development: Preparing and Facilitating Youth for Transition into Young Adults, by Hewitt B. Clark and Kimberly A. Crosland18. From Research to Practice: Improving Permanency Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care, by Madelyn Freundlich, Lauren Frey, Benjamin Kerman, and Sarah B. GreenblattAfterword: Making Families Permanent and Cases Closed?Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations ContributorsIndex