ABSTRACT
Permanency planning, the underlying philosophy behind the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, assumes prompt and decisive action to maintain children in their own homes or place them, as quickly as possible, in permanent homes with other families. The implementation of permanency planning has shown a steady and predictable increase in the foster care population, with the exception of the late 1980s when the crack cocaine epidemic resulted in sharp increases. Although foster care has been growing, the characteristics of children entering the child welfare system (CWS) have been changing. In California, foster parents accounted for 40% of all adoptions involving child welfare services children in 1980 compared to 92% in 1991. Child welfare service providers determine the pathway that children take through the CWS with every small and large decision they make. Pathways depend on practice.
