A DCF Permanency Plan is filed nine months from the date of a child’s initial out of home placement. It is then filed every 12 months thereafter for as long as the child is in DCF care.
The purpose of a Permanency Plan is to make sure that the cases are reviewed periodically so that any issues are addressed and that children do not linger in the foster care system.
Potential Permanency Plan outcomes include:
- Reunification with a parent
- Transfer of guardianship to a relative or non-relative
- Long term foster care with a licensed relative
- Adoption
- Other Planned Permanent Living Arrangement. This is not a preferred Plan. Therefore, DCF is required to set forth compelling reasons why other Plans are not in the child’s best interest.
If a child has been in DCF placement for over fifteen months, the DCF’s Permanency Plan must be Termination of Parental Rights unless:
- The child is in placement with a relative
- Reunification services have not been provided to the parents
- Or there is a compelling reason that Termination of Parental Rights is not in the child’s best interest.
After DCF files their proposed Permanency Plan, a parent has thirty days to file a written objection. If no objection is filed. a Juvenile Court judge will automatically approve the Plan at the time of the court hearing. Filing an objection is especially important if DCF has failed to make reasonable reunification efforts.
Contact me by email or by calling my Fairfield office at (203) 259-5251 or my Stamford office at (203) 356-1475 for further information concerning DCF Permanency Plans.