• An Historical Perspective on Permanency

    • During the 1970s, child advocates became concerned about children left in foster care "limbo" without a permanent home, and often moved from foster home to foster home.
    • The result was permanency planning, which was intended to move children out of foster care and into permanent homes.
    • Courts were given a major role in insuring implementation of permanency planning.
    • The first juvenile court was established in Cook County, Illinois in 1899, as authorized by the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899.
    • The Act gave the court jurisdiction over neglected, dependent, and delinquent children under the age of 16.