Permanency Conference?

I have never heard of that,but I have heard of a matching conference. I dont know what either is so I am hoping that someone with a little more knowlege can help out with your question.

We have had permanency hearings-in fact there's one set for June. It's an actual court hearing with all parties invited to come etc. We are in the process of doing an open adoption through mediation. There was one in April and they continued the case until June because we are working on an agreement. I don't know if this is the same thing or not?

Yes we have had permanency hearings too but not a permanency CONFERENCE....its weird because it sounds like the same thing except the conference is being held at the CPS office instead of court. Thanks for both your replys though!

We have a couple different types of meetings here where they bring all parties involved together to discuss how the case is progressing, etc. One happens casually and the other in court. The court one is called a Permanency Plan Review Hearing. From my understanding, a Perm. Plan hearing is required every so often and when they want to change the permanency plan from RU to TPR/adoption, the judge must sign off on it, and this is the hearing at which that would happen.Edit to add: for us, the "casual" one is called a coordinated service team meeting. Maybe that's your version of this.

Terminology will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction - so what you're asking about may not be what we think it is. First - where is this conference? If it's at the social services offices, what you're probably going to is what's known in my area as a Permanency Planning Action Team meeting. This is where the case worker, the guardian ad litem, the CASA if there is one, the adoption case worker, the bio parents, the lawyer for the bio parents if any, the foster parents, and other relevant parties (therapists sometimes, etc) get together to discuss the plan for permanency for the child(ren). They will review the progress the parents have made toward the plan, how the child is doing in their placement, and any concerns anyone has (that a child may need ECI evaluation, or the foster parents might request resources for therapy, etc.)The case workers alone don't decide whether to move for TPR, or keep things at RU - it's a team decision and plan - much of what might get argued in court can be discussed a bit more openly in these meetings (though the proceedings are still confidential to those who attend), and various agreements can be hashed out - perhaps a voluntary surrender in return for some sort of openness in adoption, etc. We have our 3rd such PPAT meeting on our youngest coming up next week. Here they do one within 30 days of the child coming into care, 90 days after the first, and then generally every 6 months or as needed. Baby J will be 9 months old, so we're at #3.

Permanency Conference is at the CPS office. There is a mediator present, in addition to birth parents, CW's, GAL, CASA, and Foster Parents. The basic idea is to come up with a plan to give this child permanency. They will go over everything that the birth parents have completed on their plan and everything they haven't completed. The mediator will remind the bparents of the next court date and what they need to do to get their child back. Based on what the CW and GAL are saying, the mediator could tell the parents that if you don't do the following, your rights will be terminated on x date. Do you understand that? The mediator will also inquire about potential family or kinship placement. In other words, they are doing everything they can to dot their i's and cross their t's in case this goes to TPR. Hope that helps.

Yes thank you all, your answers did help. It just seems so odd that they would have this meeting all of the sudden. We just had mediation and everyone is on the same page and court is in a few months. It just makes me wonder if something has changed with the birth mom because her boyfriend told me last visit that she has given up on my youngest boy and then she didn't show up to her visit yesterday. Plus I am told from her boyfriend she doesn't have a case plan for him so she's not doing anything. But then the SW tells me her case plan from her first son just rolled over to the second, which I think is wrong considereing their cases weren't combined. But she still has some things to do but is almost done, besides needing a car, job and place to live. It just seems like something new is always showing up that I haven't heard of or the rules are changing. There is just NO WAY to guess what the birth mom's attorney is going to come up with at the PC. I guess I will have to find out and post it up afterwards with probably more crazy questions. Thanks everyone!!!

I hear ya. To us what seems like "all of the sudden" or this mtg came up "out of the blue" is something that has already been planned. I would ask the CW what is the difference between mediation & PC. As for the case plan for the 1st child rolling over to the 2nd . .. I was told that since rights went TPR on my DD that if b Mom has another child, she would be expected to complete the plan on DD first. Since this is all hypothetical, I don't know what the case plan for the 2nd child would look like. That was my understanding. That conversation was 2 years ago. So, my memory may not be accurate and/or the rules may have changed. Please keep us posted.

Okay then what I am waiting to hear back from is the Matching conference which is held at CPS. The children in question have been in care almost 3 years with TPR being done last October. The meeting in taking place in mid June( oh can I wait that long..it seems like forever). What exactly will they be doing and will I know the results quickly?