Casey Family Services has released a report from the research roundtable held during the last National Convening on Youth Permanence in 2006. The report offers an overview from national experts of how to document and understand youth permanence strategies for children in foster care.

The parents of children in the child welfare system are often vilified and rarely heard from. Youth Communication is working to change that, with a new magazine called Rise, written by and for such parents. Its mission is to help parents advocate for themselves and their children. In her story from issue #3, Philneia Timmons tells a tough story from a perspective that's too often missing from our view of foster care.

In 1960s and 1970s, American Indian children were roughly six times more likely to be placed in foster care than other children, and were often placed in non-American Indian homes or institutions. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was designed to protect American Indian families and give tribes a role in making child welfare decisions. An April 2005 Government Accountability Office survey of four states found no consistent pattern in how long children subject to ICWA remained in foster care—but did find that in 2003, these children were somewhat less likely to be reunified or adopted when leaving care and somewhat more likely to leave through a guardianship arrangement. The GAO recommends the use of ICWA compliance information available to target assistance to states.

To promote growth in the community through comprehensive marketing and educational programs. To enhance the abilities of youths through mentoring, tutoring, money management are just a few avenues we will incorporate to accomplish these goals.