PERMANENCY DEFINED You may notice we use the word ‘permanency’ a lot. What does it mean? Permanency is central to our work and at the core of our mission. Many people think adoption and permanency mean the same thing. They don’t, exactly. Think of permanency as a broad umbrella under which adoption fits. We all know what adoption means. It means that you bring a child or teen into your home, and one day you go to court to say, “This person is a part of my family legally.” Adoption is legal permanency. But there are other types of permanency, such as physical and emotional permanency, as well. Permanency is really a state of mind: it’s having a place where you belong, and people to whom you belong, no matter what happens. It’s an inherent promise that the community makes to kids who are legally removed from their birth families. That promise says, “Your birth family wasn’t able to provide well enough for you, so we took you away to protect you. We will find you something better.” Finding permanency for kids whose parents’ parental rights were terminated is the fulfillment of that promise made to the child at the time of intervention. Oftentimes, permanency happens via a legal adoption, but sometimes it happens in other ways. It’s almost easier to explain what permanency is NOT. Sometimes folks might say, “This kid has permanency, because when he’s 18 and he leaves the foster care system he can come back for Christmas and Easter.” Simply having a place to go two days out of the year is not permanency; certainly it may be an indicator of such, but in and of itself having a place to go for holidays is not permanency. Permanency is not a single placement, it is not a plan, it is not a program. It is not what some call ‘long-term foster care’ or ‘permanent foster care’ - there is no such thing, as foster care is designed to be temporary. It is not an Independent Living Skills class. Permanency is a knowing, deep within, that you belong somewhere with someone even if you make a mistake. Even if that mistake is a really bad one. Permanency requires relationships that are life-long and provide what any family might: being in a Last Will and Testament, hearing your name on the answering machine, having your picture on the family photo wall in someone’s house, knowing someone will walk you down the aisle (should you choose to get married and want that), realizing that the term ‘family vacation’ includes you, having people who will visit you regularly even if you are in jail. Somebody with permanency has been claimed by others and is able to develop traditions and culture in relationship to the people that they care about. If you are a worker in the child welfare field, here is a question you can ask yourself at a youth’s staffing meeting to determine whether or not that youth has permanency: Look around the room. Is there anyone in the room who is not paid to be there (this includes foster parents, guardians ad litem/CASAs, paid mentors)? If the answer is ‘no,’ then that youth does not have permanency. This is certainly not a foolproof question, but it is one way to measure permanency. For Ampersand Families, helping a teen to achieve permanency means we strive to find and support adoptive families for all of our teens, even the ones who are 18 or older (via an adult adoption). In rare cases where a legal adoption is not possible, we strive to achieve permanency in other ways, because everyone deserves belonging, dignity and hope. Once, upon asking a 15-year-old what she thought ‘permanency’ meant, she replied, “Is it like permanent marker? It won’t rub off?” Permanency is kind of like permanent marker – no matter what happens, it’s still there. | 
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