About this recommendation
Most youth leave foster care with fewer connections than they entered with. However, most supportive adults want to be more involved in supporting the youth in their lives. Keeping these adults engaged and involved in case planning can help keep youth from exiting care without connections. Invite at least three times as many supportive adults as paid staff members to planning meetings to maximize the benefits of this support network.
How to do this
- Redesign your planning meeting invitation - The invitation should serve as a prompt and remind staff to invite as many supportive adults as they can, ideally three times as many supportive adults as paid staff members.
- Redesign your meeting sign in sheet - Provide enough room for supportive adults to sign in for in-person meetings. For example, you might have four times as many lines in the “supportive adult” area than in the “staff” area.
- Ask youth about supportive adults in their lives - Staff should make sure that supportive adults are aware of and invited to planning meetings. You might even ask youth to suggest a supportive adult themselves.
- Keep track of meeting attendance - With a simple spreadsheet, you can keep track of the breakdown of roles at planning meetings. Use this information to keep track of progress towards the goal of having three times as many supportive adults as paid staff in attendance.
- Keep asking about supportive adults as new goals arise - A youth may have one or more supportive adults who generally attend meetings, but may have an additional support for a specific goal, such as practicing for a driving test, getting mentoring in math, or shopping for a prom dress.
Anticipated costs and benefits
- Time to implement form and workflow changes
- Supportive adults remain engaged and involved with youth
- Youth less likely to lose connections during care
- More productive meetings
Outcome data
Olmsted County, MN demonstrated significantly better outcomes for older foster youth when a ratio of 3:1 supportive adults to paid staff attended their planning meetings (roughly 12 family members to 3 staff members). They also pay attention to the balance of family present from both sides of the family. source
Who's doing this
4 of 54 states and territories have implemented this recommendation.
- Michigan has begun tracking who attends each planning meeting, and their role (e.g. CASA, supportive adult, paid staff). They do this in a simple Excel spreadsheet, with regular exports from their IT system.
- Ohio has Youth Centered Permanency Round Tables (YCPRT) running in several counties. For YCPRTs, the youth is asked to bring a support person to the meeting. It can be anyone: a caregiver, a friend of the family, a member of the family, or anyone the youth feels is supportive of them. That can also initiate more conversations and discussion about permanency options and supports for the youth. One youth asked his fast food manager to come with him, and the manager didn’t even know he was in foster care. The manager ended up adopting him!
- In Ohio, the practice for maintaining connections is: any youth 14 and over is able to have two support persons join in on the family team meetings and case plan meetings. That helps to initiate discussion of any other support persons available to the child.
- Hawaii develops Youth Circles for each child, which includes working with each youth to identify the supportive adults who will be invited to the circle.
- New Hampshire identifies up to 45 of a youth's supports through Permanency Pact through Foster Club, and involves them in meetings to accomplish specific goals, such as buying a first car, attending holiday celebrations after aging out of care, etc. As adults are identified, the agency sends those adults invites and supportive materials to support these goals.