All young people should have a permanent family

To assure that young people in and transitioning from foster care have a permanent family that provides an enduring source of emotional support, we should:

• mandate that all young people leave foster care to their family, legal guardian, adoptive parent, or are discharged to a permanently committed, caring adult
• provide subsidized legal guardianship and subsidized kinship care as options for permanence
• ensure that young people are placed with families in their own neighborhoods and communities, thereby reducing reliance on congregate care
• provide older youth with options for re-engaging birth parents or relatives who are safe resources
• make all efforts to place siblings together; when not possible require and facilitate quality visitation among siblings unless safety is an issue