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Despite the federal emphasis on achieving timely permanency for children who enter foster care, some children continue to remain in foster care for extended periods, with approximately 20,000 children a year “aging out” of foster care into adulthood without having achieved permanency in a family setting (Dworsky, 2008). This literature review focuses on the federal Child and Family Services Review measure that measures agency performance related to achieving permanency for children in foster care for long periods of time. The review summarizes the factors associated with timely discharges from care; while each child and family involved with the child welfare system brings a set of unique challenges and characteristics, research points to common individual and system factors that may be associated with long stays in foster care. Broad strategies that may be linked to achieving permanency are described, followed by explicit models developed to increase the likelihood of timely permanency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the context of child welfare, family reunification refers to the services that are provided for purposes of returning children who have been placed in out-of-home care to their families of origin. Family reunification is the primary permanency goal for the majority of children who have been placed temporarily outside of their homes. This literature review focuses on the federal Child and Family Services Review composite outcome indicator that seeks to measure agency performance related to family reunification. It describes factors at the level of the agency/system, the family, and the child that are associated with failure to reunify. Practices that have been linked with successful family reunification are described, with particular attention to the period between removal from the home and reunification. The review concludes with questions intended to promote discussion about the use of evidence to support the reunification process within child welfare agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]