Permanency for Older Youth and Family Finding

CASAs can play a role in finding family.  Helping your youth find caring adults can, more than anything else, improve his or her life.

Often “permanency” means 1) returning a child to his/her parents, 2) finalizing a legal guardianship or adoption.  But what happens when the youth is older?  What happens when the youth is 16 or 17 years old and adoption does not seem likely?  For these children we often just begin “independent living.” 

But is this enough?  Who really lives independently?

Your goal as a CASA is to work with the youth and everyone else to ensure that the youth has meaningful, long-lasting connections with adults who care.  If you can do that then you r youth will succeed.

Here are some resources that can help:

California Permanency for Youth Project (CPYP) 
One of the best groups working toward permanency for youth.

Six Steps to Find a Family 2008 (PDF)
An overview of Family Finding and achieving permanency for youth.

Family Finding Search Tools
Links to online searches that can locate people.

Digital Stories 
Digital story telling about the importance of finding permanency for older youth, produced by Hunter College School of Social Work.

Family to Family Links 
Resources relating to permanency gathered in one place.

California Connected by 25 
An initiative to connect older youth with caring adults in California.