The moment a child is placed in your agency’s care, you should begin the process of permanency planning.
Permanency planning
One of the principles guiding out-of-home care in NSW is that children’s safety and wellbeing usually benefits from stable, permanent placements. In line with this, the legislation provides for the following hierarchy of permanency options.
All agencies must consider this hierarchy of options when placing a child or young person:
- Restoration to family
- Guardianship by a relative or kin or another suitable person
- For the child to be adopted (except in the case of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child or young person)
- For the child to be placed under the parental responsibility of the Minister.
Permanency and stability
How your agency supports, monitors and assesses a child or young person’s readiness to progress to permanent care to permanent care is a key part of case planning, case review and casework.
Permanency planning is also enshrined in the Code of Practice in the following ways:
-
Practice requirement 5 requires agencies to recruit safe, suitable carers, guardians and prospective adoptive parents through the authorisation process. It also requires agencies to provide ongoing support, supervision and training to carers, guardians and prospective adoptive parents.
-
Practice requirement 7 requires agencies to apply the permanent placement principles and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child and Young Person Placement Principles to all placement decisions from entry into care including any placement changes that may occur while the child or young person is in care. It also requires agencies to ensure there is an appropriate permanency goal reflected in each child or young person’s case plan, and case work to support this goal.
Read more about the Code of Practice:
