Family Partnership Meetings

A Family Partnership Meetings (FPM) are collaborative efforts in the permanency planning process between the family, foster youth (when appropriate), family's supports, foster care worker, and other professionals (Family Partnership Meetings, 2013; Kim, Pierce, Jaggers, Imburgia, & Hall, 2016). Studies about FPM as an engagement tool in the foster care system indicates that engagement is a critical component to achieving permanency for foster children (Crampton, Usher, Wildfire, Webster, & Cuccaro-Alamin, 2011; Boldis, & Tomlinson, 2014). Studies have found foster parent/child welfare professionals' engagement to have an impact on the success of FPM and permanency planning leading to better permanency outcomes for foster children (Kim, Pierce, …show more content…
Under those circumstances, foster care provides a home for children until they can be safely returned to their families (reunification) or another permanency goal has been achieved (Boldis & Tomlinson, 2014). Permanency is connecting a foster child to a permanent family, whether it is through reunification, placement with a biological family member, or through adoption by a non-relative family (Biehal, 2014). Permanency is considered to be achieved when children are able to leave foster care to be reunified with caregivers they were removed from or placed with another a permanent family (Biehal, 2014). Reunification is the primary permanency goal when children come into care (Boldis & Tomlinson, 2014). When reunification is not appropriate than the permanency goals of relation/kinship place or adoption are pursued (Boldis & Tomlinson, …show more content…
“Permanency planning is a systematic process of taking prompt, decisive, goal-directed action to maintain children safely in their own homes or place them permanently with another family” (Virginia Department of Social Services, 2015, p. 2). Permanency planning combines family engagement and support services, simultaneously provided to children and their families to achieve a permanency goal (Lopez, Del Valle, Montserrat, & Bravo, 2013; Goemans, Vanderfaeillie, Damen, Pijnenburg, & Van Holen, 2016). “Family engagement is a family-centered and strengths based approach to making decisions, setting goals, and achieving desired outcomes for children and families” (Family Engagement: Partnering With Families to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes, 2016, p. 2). In any case, achieving permanency starts with permanency planning as soon as a child comes into foster care. Reunification is the main permanency goal FPM aim to achieve (Boldis, & Tomlinson, 2014; Balsells, Pastor, Mateos, Vaquero, & Urrea, 2015; Steen, & Duran,