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 supportive adults engaged and involved in case planning can keep youth from exiting care without connections. Invite supportive adults to planning meetings to keep these connections strong.

How to do this

Redesign your planning meeting invitation. It should remind staff to invite as many supportive adults as they can. Ideally, you should have 3 times as many supportive adults as paid staff members in attendance.

Ask youth about supportive adults in their lives. Keep asking about supportive adults as new goals arise. A youth may have a few supportive adults who regularly attend meetings, but they may have additional support for a specific goal, such as practicing for a driving test, getting mentoring in math, or shopping for a prom dress.

Make sure all supportive adults are invited to planning meetings.

Redesign your meeting sign-in sheet. Provide enough room to include supportive adults. For example, you might have 4 times as many lines in the "supportive adult" area than in the "staff" area.

Track meeting attendance. You can use a simple spreadsheet. Track your progress toward having 3 times as many supportive adults as paid staff in meetings.

This strategy in action

Olmsted County, Minnesota demonstrates significantly better outcomes for youth when planning meetings include a 3-to-1 ratio of unpaid adults to paid staff. They ensure balanced representation from both sides of the youth's family.

Michigan tracks who attends each planning meeting and their role (such as CASA, supportive adult, paid staff). They do this in a simple Excel spreadsheet.

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.

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 and involves them in meetings to accomplish specific goals, such as buying a first car and attending holiday celebrations after aging out of care. As adults are identified, the agency sends those adults invitations and materials to support these goals.

Resources