Helping children, families, and communities grow stronger together.
Making It Possible
Need strategies to involve birth families in your state CFSR? New tools can help.
learn more>Resources and Tools
Two new resources related to dads as permanency resources: What about the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies’ Efforts to Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers (PDF) and Fatherhood.gov, the new federal clearinghouse with sections for researchers and policymakers.
Questions about kinship care among social workers, policymakers, state legislators, or community partners? See Is Kinship Care Good for Kids? (PDF)
Youth and Family Perspectives
“Kayla is like a complicated plant. She has roots with us— her adoptive family—and roots with her birth family. To be healthy as an adult, the more support she has in place, the better.”
Donna Coraluzzo, foster parent
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State Spotlight
Understanding Birth Family Ties
Ties with birth families — however complicated — are important to older youth in care, say two different studies.
Study #1: Running Away to Family
Research shows:
- Runaways from foster care are most likely to have left placements for homes of origin, says a study of 2,653 California foster youth. Learn more: “Pathways of Older Adolescents out of Foster Care: Implications for Independent Living Services,” from the journal Social Work.
- More than 40 percent of runaways ran to family, while 39 percent ran to a friend. Learn more: “Adolescent Runaway Behavior in Specialized Foster Care,” from Children and Youth Services Review.
- Foster children are unique in that they often run to home—running from foster or group placements to family or friends. Learn more: “Youth Who Run Away from Substitute Care,” a report from the Chapin Hall Center for Children.
Study #2: Feeling “Close”
Family members to whom older foster youth feel “very close:”
Siblings: 64 percent
Grandparents: 51.9 percent
Mother: 35.5 percent
Stepmother: 33.8 percent
Stepfather: 32.8 percent
Father: 19.9 percent
Source: A Chapin Hall Center for Children survey of 245 youth in care, ages 18 and 19, in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Learn more at “Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at age 19.”
Related Resources:
- “Children Missing from Care”: Links to a variety of resources on the subject from the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
- “Youth Who Run Away from Care,” a bibliography from the Child Welfare Information Gateway
- Collected Materials: “Children Absent from Court-Ordered Placement without Legal Permission,” a best practice forum from September 2006 cosponsored by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office, Child Welfare Services Division, and the Michigan Judicial Institute.
State Spotlight
Ties with birth families—however complicated—are important to older youth in care, two different studies say.
Archive
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- From Innovation to Action
September 2008, Volume 2 - Court Reforms that Support Youth in Achieving Lifelong Families
February-March 2008, Volume 2 - Engaging Youth in Achieving and Sustaining Permanence
November 2007, Volume 1
About Connections Count
Produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation/Casey Family Services, Connections Count is an electronic newsletter focusing on best practices, tools, research, and data on youth permanence in child welfare.
read more>Contact Us
Casey Family Services
127 Church Street
New Haven, CT 06510
Tel: 203.401.6900
Fax: 203.401.6901