• Permanency Goals: Overview

    Below are the possible permanency goals that the court may select:

    • Return home within five (5) months
    • Return home within twelve (12) months
    • Substitute care pending determination of termination of parental rights
    • Adoption
    • Private guardianship
    • Subsidized guardianship
    • Substitute care pending independence
    • Substitute care because care cannot be provided for in home environment

    It should be noted that the goals are listed in “priority order,” and the court must rule out goal(s) from the top of the list in order to select a goal below it. Some goals (i.e., Substitute care pending independence) are also age-dependent.

  • Rachel Mast
    State's Attorney of Henderson County, 9th Judicial Circuit

    Youth and Parent Engagement

    • Families must be included in the process.
    • Success depends on family involvement.