- We believe every child has the right to a secure, loving, permanent
family at the earliest age possible.
- Our goal is to avoid the harmful effects suffered by young children
in prolonged foster care with multiple moves.
- We provide family reunification services that actively involve
the birth parents in planning and decision making for their children.
We recruit foster families that can become adoptive families, when
necessary.
- The Permanency Planning Program serves people of any race, religious
faith, and sexual orientation throughout King and Snohomish Counties.
 What
is Permanency Planning Foster Care?
Permanency Planning is time-limited foster care placement
and casework services for children and their families at risk for
foster care drift. Children are placed with foster families, who agree
to work closely with birth parents for reunification with their children,
but will commit to adopting the child when reunification is not possible.
Why is Permanency Planning Foster
Care important?
To prevent the harmful effects on children and their families
of prolonged foster care and multiple moves.
What is the goal of Permanency
Planning Foster Care?
To ensure a child has a safe, secure, permanent family as quickly
as possible, usually within 12 months. Ideally the child should have
only one placement, which is followed by either reunification with
birth parent or adoption by the Foster Parents.
Who can benefit from this program?
- Children under age 8 who have had, or are at risk for, multiple
foster care placements.
- Children from families that have not responded significantly to
prior therapeutic casework services.
- Children and their families who are in situations with multiple,
long-term problems, such as abuse and neglect, drug and alcohol
addiction, and mental illness.
- Birth parents who are undecided about continuing to parent.
Who can become a Foster Parent?
Anyone 21 years old or older, who lives in King or Snohomish County
and who is in good enough health to raise a child. We have no requirements
regarding religion, marital status, sexual orientation, home ownership,
education or income.
What is considered a permanent plan?
- A secure permanent placement with the birth parents.
- A secure permanent placement with relatives, i.e., legal guardianship
or adoption.
- Adoption by Foster Parents.
- Adoption by a newly recruited family.
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- Regular visitation with their children in foster care
- Intensive goal directed counseling, referrals and advocacy services
- Parenting training or referral
- Education regarding parents' legal rights and responsibilities
- Help with making decisions that are in the best interest of their
children and themselves
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- Placement in specially trained foster homes that are committed to
seeing the child through to permanence, i.e., return to birth parents
or adoption into their family
- Therapy or referral to therapy
- Regular visitation with birth parents
- Advocacy through school, medical, and social service systems.
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Foster Parents receive the following
training and support:
- Group and individual preparation and training for permanency
planning
- Foster Parent Support Group
- Permanency Planning Newsletter
- Parenting training or referral
- Information and referral to community resources
- Ongoing counseling and support
Who can be a Foster Parent?
Anyone of legal age, who lives in King or Snohomish County
and who is in good enough health to raise a child.
What benefits are there in becoming
a Permanency Planning Foster Parent?
As a Permanency Planning Foster Parent, you are able to:
- Have a child in your home who may someday be your legally adopted
child.
- Know that you are providing nurturing, security and stability
for a child in need.
- Be an integral part of enabling birth parents to make responsible
choices about the future of their children.
- Be a part of a program which works to stop the abuse and neglect
of children.
- Have fewer eligibility requirements placed upon you than in traditional
infant adoption programs.
What services does Lutheran Community
Services offer to support Foster Parents through the process?
You can:
- Receive support from families in situations similar to your own.
- Receive parenting training and referral to community resources.
- Receive ongoing support from experienced Lutheran Community Services staff persons with
low caseloads and time for you.
- Attend monthly support group meetings for Foster Parents, with
babysitting.
What procedure do I follow
in order to become a Permanency Planning Foster Parent?
 The
first step in becoming a Permanency Planning Foster Parent is to attend
an orientation meeting. These meetings are held on a monthly basis.
Call Lutheran Community Services at (206) 694-5713 to attend an orientation.
Meetings are held once a month in both King and Snohomish counties,
once a month per county.
Following the orientation is a personal interview with a Permanency
Planning social worker. Individuals and families who continue beyond
this point participate in a preparation group followed by individual
interviews with an assigned social worker. When you and your social
worker decide that you are ready to have a child placed, you are licensed
and matched with a child.
You can complete the entire process as quickly or
as slowly as you need.
For information call (206) 694-5713 or email mreed@lcsnw.org
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