ASFA Permanency Options
When families come into the child welfare system, suddenly their sense of permanency is disrupted. Will they return to their parent? Will they be in foster care forever? Are they expected to fend for themselves?
With the 1997 passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), permanency became a priority.
Every child in the child welfare system has a permanency goal, which defines the direction the family is headed. There are five legal permanency goals for families, listed below in order of preference:
- Return to parent – this is the first choice option, from ACS’s perspective. However, it is not always the best option, given the specific challenges and resources of an individual parent and child.
- Adoption, which requires a prior termination or surrender of parental rights
- Referral for legal guardianship – Legal guardianship is similar to custody, but is preferable, because it gives the guardian and the child more legal rights than custody would. When there is a legal guardianship, and parental rights have not been terminated, the parent can go back to court and request that the child be returned to him or her (the parent would need to prove that there has been a change of circumstances and that it is in the child’s best interests to return.)
- Permanent placement with a fit and willing relative – In the absence of adoption or guardianship, custody is required to establish a legally permanent relationship between a relative and a child. Thus, permanent placement with a fit and willing relative means custody by a relative who obtains a court order of custody by filing a custody petition in the Family Court. (This can also be thought of as long-term kinship care.)
- Another planned permanent living arrangement – “Another planned permanent living arrangement” is the least preferred choice among the five ASFA permanency plans and should be used only in extenuating circumstances when none of the other four plans is in the child’s best interest. Examples of other “planned permanent living arrangements” include custody with a non-relative, independent living, and adult residential care. This can only be selected if the case record includes documentation of a “compelling reason” why the other options are not in the best interests of the child.
