§ 21-909 Five-year plan to address barriers to permanency.
AC § 21-909
a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: Another planned permanent living arrangement (APPLA). The term "another planned permanent living arrangement (APPLA)" means a permanency planning goal to assist foster care youth in their transition to self-sufficiency by connecting the youth to an adult permanency resource, equipping the youth with life skills and, upon discharge, connecting the youth with any needed community and/or specialized services. Kinship guardianship assistance program (KinGAP). The term "kinship guardianship assistance program (KinGAP)" means the permanency and discharge outcome for children for whom a relative has become the legal guardian via court order and whereby the relative and ACS has entered into a final KinGAP agreement for a subsidy pursuant to the Kingship Guardianship Assistance Program. b. By December 31, 2017, ACS shall submit to the speaker of the council and post on its website a five-year plan to address barriers to permanency for youth in foster care. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following information: 1. A case study of a statistically significant sample of children who have spent at least two years in foster care, but no less than 5% of the total foster care population, including but not limited to the following aggregated information: (a) Age, gender, race/ethnicity, and, if available, sexual orientation; (b) Permanency plan, including reunification, adoption, KinGAP, APPLA, or other; (c) The number of months in care; and (d) Barriers to permanency, including but not limited to parental homelessness, parental relapse, parental childcare needs, education issues, family court delays, lack of permanency resources, juvenile incarceration, college enrollment, and any other barrier as determined by ACS.
2.An analysis of how ACS plans to address the systemic barriers to permanency identified during the case study required pursuant to paragraph 1. c. The five-year plan shall be reviewed and updated by ACS annually and the updated version shall be submitted to the speaker of the council and posted online one year following the submission of the initial five-year report and annually on such date thereafter. d. In the fifth year covered by each such five-year plan, ACS shall submit to the speaker of the council and post on its website a new five-year plan to address barriers to permanency for the next succeeding five-year period not later than six months prior to the last day of such fifth year. The previous five-year report shall remain on ACS' website when the new report is added. e. No information that is otherwise required to be reported pursuant to this section shall be reported in a manner that would violate any applicable provision of federal, state or local law relating to the privacy of information respecting youth in foster care or that would interfere with law enforcement investigations or otherwise conflict with the interests of law enforcement. If any category requested contains between 1 and 5 youth in foster care, or allows another category to be narrowed to between 1 and 5 youth in foster care, the number shall be replaced with a symbol. (L.L. 2016/143, 11/16/2016, eff. 11/16/2016) Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2016/143.
