After his wife died of cancer, Mark reached a point of desperation with his son's increasingly delinquent behavior when the eighth-grader took Mark's car for a joyride. The father of three went to child and family services prepared to surrender his parental rights “if that's what it took to help things.”

Fourteen-year-old Paul was placed with Sharon and Bruce Abbott, who've opened their home to nearly 200 children in the last 12 years. Parents of two pre-teens, the Abbotts are one of 40 New Hampshire families providing foster care through Permanency-Plus, a pilot program working to re-unite first-time foster children with their families.

Working to Heal Families
A collaboration between the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Easter Seals and the counseling agency Familystrength, the program turns foster families into “resource families,” says coordinator Mary Myers. Resource families build communication with a child's parents, offer support through weekly contact, and work with sponsoring agencies and the child's family toward the goal of reunification.

“We aim to decrease the length of a child's foster-care stay and eliminate or reduce risks so that children can return to safe families of their own within six months,” Myers says. “As absolute last resort, resource families are willing to adopt, ensuring the child a home that is familiar, rather than the revolving door of traditional foster care.”

Frequent interaction between the two families helps birth parents and their children feel more connected to the process that can reunite them. Resource parents meet with the birth family at least twice a week and in team meetings of the service agencies every other week. When possible, they meet in the resource family's home, providing an opportunity for birth parents to observe basic parenting skills.

By applying the Permanency-Plus model, the Abbotts helped Paul and Mark achieve the program's ultimate goal when Paul returned home in February.

“They've still got typical teenage stuff to deal with, but now, they have skills and know that they CAN work together,” Sharon Abbott says. “We communicate much better,” says Paul. “We work through our issues a lot easier, and there aren't as many, because they don't pile up.”

“We still have our days, but so does everybody,” Mark says. “We were never looking for perfection. Mostly, harmony was what was missing. Our friendship with the Abbotts helps keep us growing together.”

Results So Far
In its first 24 months, the program, which covers a roughly 30-mile radius, saw 37 of the 64 children it has served leave foster care within the desired six-month period, says Myers. Most were reunited with their families. A small percentage left foster care because they reached the age of 18, and one birth mother agreed to the adoption of her two children by their resource parents.

Although it serves only first-time placements, the program has a “no eject or reject” policy that makes children eligible regardless of birth-family circumstances such as parental drug abuse, neglect or sexual or physical abuse.

Placements remain with the resource family even when birth parents have to temporarily leave the program for drug-abuse treatment or incarceration. “In such cases, we put a hold on the program, resuming when the parent can participate again,” says Myers.

Permanency-Plus strives to avoid disruptions in placement although these do occur when a parent moves too far away to continue participating in the program. They also occur when an extended family member is willing to take the child in the event that reunification of the birth family won’t be possible, Myers says.

The degree to which birth parents cooperate and participate, whatever their circumstances, determines the chances for reunification, Myers says. “Building trust between the two families is probably the most significant—and challenging—part of the process.”

Expanding and Evaluating
Initially slated for two years, Permanency-Plus was extended through October 2003 and New Hampshire is exploring how to offer it statewide. A likely preliminary step will be an effectiveness study: some district offices would apply the Permanency-Plus model, while another group of offices would serve as a control group.

Though Myers is proud of the results so far, she notes that it is difficult to evaluate such a new, small program. Program case workers have described such measurable benefits as the ability to know exactly what's going on with a Permanency-Plus case at any given point, and the establishment of more effective communication within birth families at an earlier stage in the process.

Myers sees these benefits as the result of how intensely the program connects birth families with a network of supportive services from the first point of contact. “Our assessment has even found that the approach with which the program immediately surrounds the family with a team of services sometimes rules out the need for foster placement at all,” she says.

Myers has turned large amounts of information on the program and its participants over to researchers at the University of New Hampshire for evaluation.

“Families Trying to Help Each Other…”
Four days before Christmas, the Dullea family got a call at 4:30 and their four-year-old foster son joined them for dinner that night.

The couple and their three school-age children “were drawn to this program because you help another family, more than just taking the child into your home,” Margaret Dullea says.

They first heard about Permanency-Plus in their town newsletter. The program recruits resource families through word-of-mouth in the foster-parent network and in mailings, media ads and church and community bulletins.

Like foster parents, resource families undergo screening and training. They need to be willing to work with birth families and take a collaborative role in the program’s support network of agencies. Experience in problem-resolution and knowledge of behavior modification are also helpful.

Beyond face-to-face meetings, the Dullea family's relationship with their foster-child's mother has been built on lots of telephone contact.

“Things started out rocky at first,” Dullea says. “She didn't know me at all and was supposed to trust her child to me. I sometimes felt a bit defensive about how I did things, but we've finally reached that point where she's asking my opinion, and trusts me.”

In a program that emphasizes building relationships, “he has the comfort of knowing that all of the people concerned in his well-being are also connected with each other,” Dullea says. “I was concerned that we'd get too attached and not want him to leave. But in this program, you see the child as part of a bigger picture. You realize he has a place, and you want to help him get back to it.”

Sharon Abbott also found that focusing the efforts of all involved on helping a foster child return home is key to the program’s success.

“We could see how much Mark wanted his family together again,” she says. “We all worked together and Paul began seeing that consequences hold up no matter where you are. He also discovered how taking responsibility helped lift the cycle of anger that once hung over their house, and they can both move on.”

“The Abbotts helped us learn to relax and have fun with each other as a means of overcoming mistrust,” says Mark.

“With the counseling sessions the agencies had with all of us together, we didn't have to play the part of mediator but could observe the dynamics in play,” says Abbott. “The biggest benefit of the program is that the work with the family counselor starts immediately and isn't just temporary, but really shows parents and kids how to work things out and continue to use those skills.”

“Plus, the program took the clinical taste out of the process and made it feel more like families trying to help each other be families, and even friends” says Mark.

“We had Thanksgiving at Mark's and he cooked,” says Abbott. Afterward, the two families took their pie and ice cream to the top of a nearby mountain—a great way to symbolize new beginnings, she says.

Resources:

• Improving Foster Care
• Foster Care Parenting
• More information about New Hampshire's Permanency-Plus program is available from Mary Myers.
• The Casey National Center for Resource Family Support is one-stop source of information, technical assistance, written materials and referrals to both resource families and child welfare professionals who work with them.
• FosterParentNet focuses on expanding the network of support groups and other resources offered to foster parents.