Finding Permanency for our Most Vulnerable Youth:

1. Why APPLA Isn’t Good Enough Christopher Church & Patricia Buonodono Georgia’s Court Improvement Program Anthony Reeves, Edward Washington & Crystal Williams Georgia empowerMEnt 34th National Child Welfare, Juvenile & Family Law Conference National Association of Counsel for Children August 30, 2011 – San Diego, CA Finding Permanency for our Most Vulnerable Youth:

2. Agenda • Timeline of Events • Identifying & Recognizing the Problem • Aunt Betty • Truck Drivin’ Grannie • APPLA • “Child does not want to be adopted.” • Child’s Mental & Emotional Well Being • Care or Control? • Questions & Answers

3. Timeline of Events: & The Committee on Justice for Children

4. Agenda • Timeline of Events • Identifying & Recognizing the Problem • Aunt Betty • Truck Drivin’ Grannie • APPLA • “Child does not want to be adopted.” • Child’s Mental & Emotional Well Being • Care or Control? • Questions & Answers

5. Identifying Cold Cases • Scientific Definition: • Children most likely to negatively impact state conformity with CFSR Permanency Composite 3 • Practical Definition: • Children most likely to “age-out” without permanency.

6. Permanency Composite 3

7. Cooking w/ Multivariate Regression Recipe • Cold Cases Ingredients • 66 data elements from AFCARS Foster Care file Final Product • Tastes about 90% good!

8. empowerMEnt • Aunt Bettie • Truck Drivin’ Grannie

9. Agenda • Timeline of Events • Identifying & Recognizing the Problem • Aunt Betty • Truck Drivin’ Grannie • APPLA • “Child does not want to be adopted.” • Child’s Mental & Emotional Well Being • Care or Control? • Questions & Answers

10. APPLA: Federal Authority ($) • APPLA is one of the permissible permanency goals under the Adoption & Safe Families Act of 1997. • A child may have a permanency goal of APPLA, but only when the State agency has documented to the court a compelling reason for determining that it would not be in the best interest of the child to follow one of the other four specified options. • 45 CFR § 1355.20(v) • State must consider all other options permanency options first, and even then, must document a compelling reason for any alternate plan: • 45 CFR § 1355.21(h)(3)

11. APPLA: Compelling Reasons • Examples of a compelling reason may include: • The case of an older teen who specifically requests that emancipation be established as his/her permanency plan; • The case of a parent & child who have a significant bond, but parent is unable to care for the child b/c of an emotional or physical disability and the child’s foster parents have committed to raising him/her to the age of majority and to facilitate visitation with the disabled parent • 45 CFR § 1355.21(h)(3)(i)-(ii)

12. empowerMEnt • “Child does not want to be adopted.”

13. APPLA: Georgia SSM § 1006.8: Two Options for APPLA • Long-Term Foster Care Signed, Informal Agreement by Substitute Caregiver and Child • Emancipation Basically Same as Above, but Nobody to Sign Long-Term Foster Care Agreement • Policy recognizes neither option is really permanency, and cautions against adopting as permanency plan for any child.

14. APPLA: Iowa DHS Practice Bulletin: Permanency For Children: APPLA. January 2009 • Generally Appropriate for some older youth, age 16 or older. • Insists compelling reasons “be convincing and forceful. [They] must be supported with very strong, case-specific facts and evidence which includes justification for the decisions and reasons why all other permanent options for a child are not reasonable, appropriate, or possible.”

15. APPLA: Washington D.C. Policy Title: Establishing the Goal of APPLA D.C. CFSA, June 25, 2009 • Child at least 16, with concurrent plan to identify adults who will commit to youth after time in foster care ends • Youth must reconsider permanency options 6 weeks before every permanency hearing. • APPLA goal shall be constantly examined and revisited at all relevant team meetings and reviews – never considered fixed or immutable.

16. APPLA: Virgina VA DSS, Volume VII, § 3B - 7.6 thru 7.7 • The selection of APPLA is appropriate only ifthe child has a severe chronic emotional, physical, or neurological disabling condition for which the child requires long-term residential treatment of six months or longer.” • But allows APPLA for older youth preparing to transition to ILP when all other goals are have been considered and ruled out.

17. “AFCARS: Meet Google.”

18. How Other States are Doing Composite 3 Scores Notice the Range: - South Dakota = 74 - Nebraska = 150 FFY2009: 42/52 meet standard, 101.5 is the 19th percentile, 75th percentile is 131.5, 50th percentile is 118.5

19. But is the Measure Flawed?

20. Agenda • Timeline of Events • Identifying & Recognizing the Problem • Aunt Betty • Truck Drivin’ Grannie • APPLA • “Child does not want to be adopted.” • Child’s Mental & Emotional Well Being • Care or Control? • Questions & Answers

21. empowerMEnt • Care or Control?

22. Psychotropic Meds • State Representative Oliver introduced House Bill 23 in January to provide transparency and oversight in the administration of psychotropic meds by DFCS. • Finalizing partnership between Casey Family Programs, Barton Center at Emory University, DFCS, GA CIP for independent oversight by local child psychiatrist. • Karen Worthington researched and published paper on the issue. PDF available here: w2.georgiacourts.org/cj4c/files/Psych_meds_paper%20(2).pdf

23. Resources • Online Videos: • Pat O’Brien, You Gotta Believe! www.law.emory.edu/centers-clinics/barton-child-law-policy-center/presentations.html • Karen Worthington, Psychotropic Meds for Georgia Youth in Foster Care w2.georgiacourts.org/cj4c/files/Psych_meds_paper%20(2).pdf • Executive Report, Cold Case Project w2.georgiacourts.org/cj4c/files/The%20Georgia%20Cold% 20Case%20Project_2010(1).pdf