I love the idea of a permanency pact.
What is a permanency pact?
A pledge by a supportive adult to provide specific supports to a young person in foster care with a goal of establishing a lifelong, kin-like relationship.
Obviously I am a huge fan of forever families. I think the fact that children need healthy families is beyond questioning and certainly one of the most crucial aspects of healthy growth, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually! Every child deserves a loving family and we should do all we can to create a world where this is possible! It is the dream of my heart.
Yet, the very sad fact is that many youth, over a hundred thousand in the United States grow up in the foster system without a permanent, stable, loving family! They "age out" and are on their own. They go from being abused and neglected to being a ward of the state, to being on their own. This is not a way any child should live. EVER.
We wonder how this can happen to so many children in a modern, civilized world. The answer is something like...the "system" isn't working correctly, some people haven't caught the vision, social workers are too busy, the courts don't get it, there aren't enough adoptive families, workers aren't following the law, no oversight to make sure children are safe, etc. etc. There is plenty of blame to go around.
While many people and organizations are diligently working to help get children into loving families, and a lot of progress has been made in some localities, there is much work to do to provide homes for our youth in the care of the state.
For those children who have yet to be adopted or raised in a forever family, a fabulous idea is to make sure all children have some caring family like support!
Youth need a life-long, kin-like connection with a supportive adult!
To learn everything you need to know about establishing a permanency pact with a youth, read more:
Permanency Pact
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