Classifying Relational Permanence among Young Adults who Exited Foster Care through Legal Permanence as Adolescents

Abstract

The achievement of legal permanence is not only a primary goal of U.S. child welfare policy but is also presumed to translate into relational permanence. This study examines whether state-sanctioned permanence translates into relational permanence among foster care alumni. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 31 young adults who exited care as adolescents through adoption, guardianship, or relative placement to gain insights into how they make meaning of their relationships with caretakers over time. Constructivist grounded theory was used to develop a conceptual classification scheme of relational permanence that resulted in four types of young adult–caretaker relationships: enduring, ambivalent, spurned, and severed. Findings underscore the unintended consequences of solely focusing on legal permanence as an outcome, and implications for promoting relational permanence before and after foster care are discussed.

Exploring the multi-dimensionality of permanence and stability: Emotions, experiences and temporality in young people’s discourses about long-term foster care in Ireland

“…The concept of 'felt security' offers much to social work in encapsulating interlinking dimensions of young people's experiences and the connections between emotions in different domains. More empirical research which subsequently applies Pe´rez's (2017) conceptualisation would be valuable in exploring the multiplicity of young people's emotional and discursive experiences, and how they intersect with policy and practice discourses. Further research is also required on how social worker's views intersect with young people's interpretations of permanence and stability and parental experiences.…”

“…legal, relational) are under-researched. Recently, Pérez (2017) presents a conceptual schema of felt relational permanence; which encompasses the affective tone young people use to describe relationships with caregivers and five relational dimensions (e.g. feeling loved by caregivers, belonging, caregiver commitment, openness to biological family and relationships with foster carers).…”

Adoption and guardianship: A moderated mediation analysis of predictors of post-permanency continuity.

“…These limitations should not be misinterpreted, however, as indicating that the exercise of personal agency by children and youth is unimportant in post-permanency continuity of care. To the contrary, there is important research that is being done on the personal agency of youth, their views and definitions of permanence, and the roles they play in sustaining continuity or severing the permanency relationship (Pérez, 2014). Just as some marriages end in divorce, and some teenagers purposively separate from their families to live in other homes, some adopted youth and permanent wards intentionally choose to terminate a permanency relationship prior to becoming an adult for what they consider to be meaningful reasons.…”

Comparative analysis of third‐party permanency orders legislation in Australia

“…Multiple dimensions of permanency are highlighted in the literature (Sanchez, 2004). Relational permanency is conceptualised as the emotional connection between the child and their caregiver, including dimensions of caregiver commitment, child's sense of belonging and caregiver's support for on-going relationships with birth family (Pérez, 2017). Others hold a broader view of relational permanency as encompassing the child'sThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.…”

“…Multiple dimensions of permanency are highlighted in the literature (Sanchez, 2004). Relational permanency is conceptualised as the emotional connection between the child and their caregiver, including dimensions of caregiver commitment, child's sense of belonging and caregiver's support for on-going relationships with birth family (Pérez, 2017). Others hold a broader view of relational permanency as encompassing the child's…”