Center research efforts were instrumental in achieving these dramatic results. The Illinois Subsidized Guardianship Waiver, devised and managed by the Center, demonstrated with experimental evidence that subsidized guardianship had a substantial impact as a supplementary option to reunification and subsidized adoption in improving permanency outcomes. As a result of this initiative and other policy innovations, such as performance contracting, the per capita rate of children in kinship foster homes fell from 9 per 1,000 children in 1996 to 2.1 per 1,000 children in 2004 (the most recently available federal data).

As a result of Illinois’ permanency push, a milestone was reached in July of 2000 when the number of children in publicly-assisted permanent homes in Illinois surpassed for the first time the number of children maintained in state-funded foster care. As of June 2007, there were 40,620 children in post-permanency placements with adoptive parents and legal guardians compared to just under 16,000 children in foster homes and group care.

Permanency Projects:
Subsidized Guardianship Enhanced Waiver Demonstration

In an effort to enhance permanence for older wards, Illinois designed and was awarded an extension to its Subsidized Guardianship Waiver. The older ward waiver offers private guardianship as an additional permanency option to children and families. The  revised terms and conditions for the waiver extension allows Illinois to offer transition services to youth age 13 and older, regardless of placement, to test whether the availability of these services enhances permanence for older wards. Although the original waiver was designed to meet the permanency needs of older youth, evaluation indicates that an unexpectedly low proportion of the foster care population above the age of 13 entered into subsidized guardianship arrangements. Feedback from youth, caseworkers and caregivers suggests that transition services seem to compete with permanence and that permanence is  perceived as a 'loss of services' or 'missing out' on access to transition services and other opportunities. The waiver extension offers youth in care the opportunity to achieve permanence and at the same time, access necessary supports during the transition to adulthood. The Center provides support staff for the Subsidized Guardianship federal waiver program and collects research data required for the federal reporting, input, and development of policy and practice.

Evaluation of Subsidized Guardianship Waiver Demonstrations
CFRC is also evaluating subsidized guardianship demonstrations in Tennessee and Wisconsin.

The goal of Tennessee’s Subsidized Guardianship Initiative is to improve permanency and safety outcomes for children and families in approved relative and kin settings. The state is using the waiver authority to test whether the introduction of a subsidized guardianship benefit will result in an increase of permanence and safety for children and an improvement in a range of child outcomes such as reduced length of stay in foster care and improved stability of family care.

The target population consists of all Title IV-E eligible and non-IV-E eligible children in Tennessee, aged 0 to 18 years old, who meet the following criteria: (1) have been in foster care for at least nine out of the last 12 months; (2) live in a approved resource home setting; (3) resided with the same relative or kin caregiver continuously for at least six (6) months (allowing for absences from the home); and for whom reunification and adoption are not viable permanency options.

Wisconsin’s Guardianship Permanency Initiative seeks to improve permanency outcomes for children in out-of-home care by promoting guardianship as a permanency option, the use of relatives as permanency resources, and family-based permanency planning for children. 

Post-Guardianship Support Program

Post-guardianship support program staff serve as liaisons between DCFS, clients, courts, the DCFS Office of Legal Services and community agencies to prevent dissolutions and disruptions in placement or to facilitate court proceedings and outcomes when a change of guardianship is necessary. In addition, program staff provide waiver assignment checks for foster/relative care cases, oversee the ongoing compilation of the Subsidized Guardianship database of outcomes in Subsidized Guardianship cases that change legal status, participate in workgroups which involve Subsidized Guardianship concerns and issues, provide training on the waiver program and act as a statewide resource for clinical or waiver consultation.

Post-Permanency Data Analysis

The Center will be evaluating the receipt and availability of post-permanency service with a focus on families with an adopted or subsidized guardianship youth aged 13 or 16. CFRC is serving as the evaluator for DCFS on the project.

Center staff developed a survey that will be completed by private agency staff under contract with DCFS at in-person meetings with families with an Adoption Assistance and Subsidized Guardianship case

The evaluation (currently underway) will lead to a better understanding of the needs of these families. The survey collects information on families’ existing needs and establishes whether or not those needs are being met successfully through referrals to existing services and to newly funded post-permanency programs. The study will also inform providers about the nature of support needed and circumstances under which service provision or additional assistance might further assure continuing stability for families after adoption and guardianship.