Youth Permanency Program

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

In 2005, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, in collaboration with the California Permanency for Youth Project, initiated implementation of a new and innovative program designed to provide immediate and ongoing permanency planning services to identified high risk youth. The overall vision of the program is that no youth leaves the California child welfare system with a permanent lifelong connection to a caring adult. The program’s goals are: to develop and implement an organizational model designed to facilitate permanency outcomes for the target population; to implement a Youth Permanency Unit to work in partnership with CPYP; to increase permanency outcomes for high risk youth by way of reunification, legal guardianship, or adoption; to decrease reliance on residential placement care; and to increase connections with family members or significant adults in their lives to provide them with emotional and financial support.