A Permanency Roundtable is an intervention designed to facilitate the permanency planning process for youth placed out-of-home by identifying solutions to permanency obstacles.
The Permanency Roundtable Model was developed by Casey Family Programs to assist child welfare agencies expedite permanency for youth in care. In 2012, Indiana passed legislation requiring permanency roundtables in both children in need of services and juvenile delinquency cases.
Indiana is the first state to adopt the Casey Permanency Roundtable Model for juvenile delinquency cases. Depending on the needs of the case, there are two types of roundtable procedures available for juvenile delinquency cases. The first option is a Summary Permanency Roundtable and the second option is a Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable. Regardless of roundtable procedure used, both roundtables are required to review the child’s permanency plan if the child is placed in a child caring institution, group home or private secure facility. Then the group makes recommendations to the court before the child’s twelve-month jurisdiction review hearing.
Summary Permanency Roundtable
A child’s permanency plan may be referred to a Summary Permanency Roundtable if reunification is the permanency goal and significant progress has been made towards the permanency plan. A Summary Permanency Roundtable will be scheduled if a child has been in a child caring institution, group home or private secure facility for nine (9) months.
The Summary Permanency Roundtable is a meeting between a probation officer and a local Department of Child Services (DCS) representative to review the child’s case summary, case plan, steps being taken to achieve permanency, and any other pertinent information regarding the child. The probation officer and the local DCS representative may make recommendations to the court regarding the child’s permanency plan and any services or programs that may be available or beneficial to the child and family.
Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable
A child’s permanency plan must be referred to a Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable if reunification is not the permanency plan, if significant progress has not been made towards the permanency plan, or if the child remains in a child caring institution, group home or private secure facility at the time of the child’s twelve-month jurisdictional review hearing.
A Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable is a highly structured, in-depth case consultation designed to develop an action plan to expedite legal permanency for the child. The Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable team will include the probation officer assigned to the case, the probation officer’s supervisor or chief probation officer, a facilitator, scribe, master practitioner and DCS representative.
The probation department may also request the participation of any third party that may be needed or appropriate, including, but not limited to, GAL/CASA, service providers, public defender, prosecutor, and other DCS staff.
Each Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable meeting is approximately two (2) hours in length and includes the following steps in the process:
- Welcome and Overview (5 minutes)
- Present the Case (20 minutes)
- Clarify and Explore (15 minutes)
- Brainstorm (30 minutes)
- Create Permanency Recommendations and Action Plan (40 minutes)
- Debrief Case Consultation (10 minutes)
Following the Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable meeting, the probation officer will share the recommendations with the parties to the case (i.e. child, family, prosecutor, public defender, GAL/CASA), and submit the recommendations to the court prior to the child’s twelve-month jurisdiction review hearing.
Positive Results
The first Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtable was piloted in Howard County on July 24, 2012. Don Travis, Chief Probation Officer in Howard County, selected the case to be piloted. He intentionally chose a difficult case in which the probation department had been working with a youth for many years and believed all resources and options had been exhausted.
Mr. Travis stated, “the ideas and suggestions made throughout the roundtable were extremely beneficial. With the DCS in the room, new programs that probation was not aware of and possible solutions were introduced to the case that seemed to be at a stalemate. In addition, the non-adversarial approach allowed for an open and candid discussion about the child’s need for permanency.”
Mr. Travis further believes Permanency Roundtables will be an asset to youth who have been removed from their home for an extended period because the Permanency Roundtable will provide an opportunity to facilitate services to the child and family, which will assist the youth transition from the institution to the home.
Mr. Travis reports that the Permanency Roundtable protocols are to be implemented in accordance with the state’s DCS regions due to the varying programs and services that each DCS region has available.
Additionally, there is a need to appoint and train the staffing for Juvenile Delinquency Permanency Roundtables.
Each Permanency Roundtable requires a facilitator, a scribe and a master practitioner. These roles will be filled by training probation officers in each region. According to protocol the facilitator, scribe and master practitioner should not be a member of the probation department presenting the case. This will allow for a fresh set of eyes to review the case and make suggestions regarding permanency. Across Indiana, Memoranda of Understanding are being implemented by the probation departments in each of the DCS regions to designate staff to assist in making the delinquency roundtables a probation driven process.
Mr. Travis acknowledges that training probation officers is a necessity. Probation officers must be trained to be facilitators, scribes and master practitioners beginning with attendance at an orientation session provided by DCS and Casey Family Programs.
A probation officer is qualified to be a master practitioner if the officer has served as a probation officer for several years and attends the orientation session. Probation officers seeking to be a scribe must also attend the orientation session as well as on-line education. Finally, probation officers who would like to be a facilitator must: 1) attend the orientation session, 2) participate in a roundtable, and, 3) attend facilitator training.