Out-of-home Placement and Permanency

All children and adolescents benefit from loving, supportive, and permanent relationships with caring adults as they develop. Research suggests that, when foster care placement is necessary, children and youth living with families experience better outcomes than those who live in group placements; these better outcomes are especially noticeable for children who are placed with kinship care families (e.g., grandparents raising grandchildren). Following removal from their family of origin, children may achieve permanency through various means, including reunification, guardianship, or adoption. In several ways, Child Trends’ team of child welfare researchers promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children who are placed in out-of-home care: