Permanency Process
Whenever CPS removes a child from his or her home and places the child in substitute care, staff must engage in permanency planning on behalf of the child to ensure that the child can return the child’s family if and when this can be safety accomplished or be placed permanently with an alternative family, preferably a kinship family, as soon as possible.
In some cases the Department is appointed Permanent Managing Conservator--PMC of a child. If parental rights are terminated, the Department seeks to find an adoptive home for the child, either with kinship or with others. If parental rights are not terminated, the Department continues efforts to locate someone else who can assume this role, and seeks a foster family that can stay committed to the child during this process. In most cases it is not in the best interest of children for DFPS to obtain PMC without termination of parental rights, especially of children under age 12.
Staff must document their permanency efforts in the child’s service plans and court permanency and placement review reports.
Permanency Legislation
Court Resolution
Permanency legislation, implemented in 1998, requires courts to render a final order for children in the agency's custody within 12 months of their removal from their home, with a one-time, six-month extension for special circumstances.
Goals
Federal and state law provide only four acceptable permanency goals, and CPS subdivides the acceptable permanency options into nine subsets as follows.
| Federal Law/Texas Family Code | CPS (as seen on Child and Family Service Plans) |
|---|---|
| Family Reunification | Family Reunification |
| Adoption | Alternative Family: Relative/Kinship Adoption Alternative Family: Unrelated Adoption |
| Permanent Managing Conservatorship to a relative or suitable individual | Alternative Family: Relative/Kinship Conservatorship Alternative Family: Unrelated Conservatorship |
| Another planned permanent living arrangement (APPLA) | APPLA Family: Foster Family DFPS Conservatorship APPLA. Family: Other Family DFPS Conservatorship APPLA: Independent Living APPLA: Community Care |
Special Permanency Efforts
- Family Group Decision Making
- Permanency Care Assistance
- Find a child to adopt (TARE)
- Transition Planning for Youth Aging Out of Care
- Permanency Strategic Plan