Permanency Planning for Children Department

"To provide an environment for change by supporting and facilitating dependency court teams and by providing education and technical assistance to enable courts nationwide to meet their goals to improve practice in child abuse and neglect cases."

Every day, judges are faced with difficult decisions affecting abused and neglected children in our country. With approximately 517,000 abused and neglected children in foster care in the United States, judges and court personnel are continually challenged to find the best solutions for children and families.

The NCJFCJ Permanency Planning for Children Department (PPCD) plays an essential role in working with judges to ensure that each child's case is handled expeditiously and that safety, permanency, and well-being are paramount. Through national projects and initiatives, training and technical assistance, and research, the PPCD works with judges, jurisdictions and communities nationwide to implement best practices and improve outcomes for the nation's abused and neglected children and their families.

The PPCD established the Child Victims Act Model Courts Project  which provides judges, attorneys, and numerous other professionals who work in the courts and child welfare agencies with practical, concrete, and effective tools for creating court improvements in the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. Currently, there are 31 "Model Courts" pioneering systems change and court engagement in innovative collaborations in jurisdictions nationwide.

The PPCD Training and Technical Assistance Division offers state and national trainings to further permanency goals as well as provides informational requests on such varied topics as improving educational outcomes for foster youth, the Indian Child Welfare Act, family dependency treatment courts and state court imporvement program re-assessments. The PPCD also conducts empirically-based Research and evaluation focused on systems change and reform efforts underway in child protection courts.

The PPCD engages in a wide scope of activities and programs - new collaborations and projects can be found under the What's New at PPCD section.