When we think about permanency in foster care, adoption may be the first thing that comes to mind.

But for teens, permanency can take many forms. And it doesn’t have to end when a young person turns 18.

For a teen in foster care, permanency means having safe, supportive adults and lasting relationships they can count on as they move into adulthood. Permanency might mean safely returning to their family, living with relatives, finding a permanent home or building a network of caring adults who continue to show up long after foster care ends.

Foster parents and caregivers have an important role in helping teens build these connections. By listening to their hopes, supporting healthy relationships and helping them prepare for adulthood, you can help a young person move forward knowing they don’t have to navigate life alone.

What Does “Permanency” Mean?

Permanency is one of the primary goals in child welfare. When a child or teen enters the foster care system, the immediate focus is on keeping them safe and stable. The long-term focus is permanency: helping the child or teen form lasting family connections on a foundation of safety, stability and belonging. “Family” may mean adoption, kinship care, reunification, guardianship or, in the case of older youth, Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA).

Family isn’t defined by blood relation, but by lifelong, supportive adult relationships dedicated to helping a child or teen thrive. Permanency isn’t just a roof over a youth’s head. It’s about who continues to show up throughout their life, even after they reach adulthood and no longer require legal guardianship.

How Permanency Planning Changes as Children Grow

Permanency planning is the process in which caregivers and a youth’s care team help that young person move toward the best possible permanency outcome for their situation. What this looks like changes a lot when a teen gets closer to adulthood, as the supports they need become more complex.

Permanency Planning for Younger Children

Younger children have many years ahead of them, and they need in-home care and support from a loving, patient caregiver. Permanency planning usually means pursuing reunification, kinship care or adoption depending on what is the safest and most stable solution. It’s about creating stable routines and helping children build relationships with safe, trusted caregivers, all with an overarching focus on early childhood development.

Permanency Planning for Teens

While teens are more independent with daily living, they still need many of the same emotional and stability supports that young children do. They need stable routines and healthy relationships with trusted adults, but permanency planning shifts to preparing for adulthood and independent living. Teens are becoming more independent and getting ready to live on their own, but they still need caring adults just as much as younger children do.

Helping a teen prepare for permanency is similar to helping any teen prepare for adulthood. They need support developing practical life skills, strengthening support systems and identifying trusted adults who they can count on to stick around after foster care.

Success in Permanency is Built Through Connection

Permanency is much more than helping a teen apply for college, find a job or fill out a lease application. While these practical steps are important, healthy adult relationships and connections are foundational to youth success in permanency. These relationships may include foster parents, case managers, relatives, kinship caregivers, mentors, coaches, teachers, faith leaders, former caregivers or other supportive adults invested in their life.

Stability in permanency requires consistent, dependable relationships that withstand the test of time. That’s something we all need! One caring adult who continues to answer the phone, celebrate milestones and offer guidance to a newly independent teen can make a lifelong difference.

Even within the breadth of teen foster care experience, permanency can look very different in different situations, and that’s okay! The important part is the support and connection, not subscribing to a specific outcome. Permanency doesn’t mean a job, a college degree or a first apartment. Permanency can look like:

• Returning home safely
• Living with relatives
• Guardianship
• Maintaining lifelong connections with trusted adults
• A supportive network they can count on into adulthood

The common thread is lasting belonging, not checking specific boxes for eventual independent living and career or education.

Practical Ways Foster Parents and Caregivers Can Support Permanency

As a foster parent or caregiver for teens, you are an invaluable resource for helping them find permanency in a way that empowers their future and builds strong relationships, starting with yours! Beyond being that trusted adult they can turn to beyond foster care, here is what you can do now to help prepare a teen in your care for permanency:

Encourage Healthy Relationships

Help teens safely maintain important family and community connections when possible and appropriate. Help them identify what makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy, along with where they can go when they need help.

Listen More Than You Lead

Invite teens into conversations about their future rather than deciding for them. This will help teens feel heard and respected, build relationships with trusted adults and learn how to self-advocate for their dreams, goals, identity and valued relationships.

Celebrate Their Identity

Support connections to a teen’s culture, traditions, family history and personal interests, even if they don’t align with your own. This is important for children in foster care of any age, but teens may be especially interested in reconnecting with their roots as part of their journey toward permanency.

Partner in Preparing for Adulthood

Equip youth with essential life skills they will need upon entering adulthood. While they may be able to get some of these skills with the support of KVC programs like Middle College, you can reinforce those skills in your home from a younger age. Essential life skills may include:

• Budgeting and financial planning
• Employment skills (applying, interviewing, career etiquette)
• Health care management (scheduling appointments, navigating health insurance, managing medications)
• Transportation (acquiring a driver’s license or other means of reliable transportation)
• College and/or career planning

Stay Connected

After placement changes and a teen is no longer in your direct care, you can still be a resource of connection and support! If appropriate, possible and wanted by the youth, stay in touch and make sure they know they still have a caring adult in you to reach out to any time they need help, want to celebrate an accomplishment or just want to talk. Remember, permanency is relational, not just legal!

How KVC West Virginia Supports Permanency

KVC West Virginia is dedicated to providing compassionate care and paths to permanency for children of all ages, including teens close to aging out of foster care! To support foster parents and youth on their journey to permanency, we provide several services and resources every step of the way, such as:

• Individualized permanency planning
• Teen-focused case management
• Family engagement
• Mental health services
• Trauma-informed support
• Training and support for foster parents and caregivers
• Collaboration with caregivers, biological families and community partners
• Independent living preparation
• Connection-building that continues beyond immediate placement goals

We also have programs dedicated to educational success and future planning for teens, such as Middle College and academic support through EDIFY.

Permanency is About Connection, No Matter the Age

Permanency planning includes finding a place for a teen to live, but it’s about so much more. It’s about helping every young person know they matter, belong and have people who will continue walking beside them long after they become adults. Foster parents and caregivers play an essential role in creating those lifelong connections, and even small moments of consistency, encouragement and support can have a lasting impact.

If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent for teens in your community, take a look at KVC West Virginia’s foster care, permanency planning and mental health services to learn more.