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UW School of Social Work

Child and Family Services (CFWS) In-Service: Permanency for Every Child and Case Closure

  • By Winter Miller
  • Published: May 15, 2026
  • Duration 6h
    • Credential For Completion

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • K1. Understand the different permanency plans and how case progression guides effective permanency and collaborative conversations with permanency resources, youth and children. a. Placement moves, service matching, and permanency planning and placement decisions.

  • S1: Demonstrate communicating recommendations to the court that prioritize child and youth best interest and timely permanency. a) Identify needed behavior change, distinguishing it from service compliance, and partnering with families on how to achieve it. b) Effectively articulate safety threats and risks and document these for court, when there are concerns about the foster/kin caregivers. c) Effectively talk with children and youth about permanency

  • S2. Practice engaging families and caregivers in difficult permanency planning conversations with increased confidence. a. how to have hard conversations with parents and caregivers about permanency b. need to talk with all case plan participants about all plans (not just talking to them about the plan they want) c. Discussing needs of children d. Discussing needs of child/youth and permanency resource (parent or caregiver) long-term and the post-permanency supports available with each plan

  • S3. Assess for permanency based on case circumstances and child / youth best interests. a. Consider state and federal requirements, b. Case circumstances c. Fair evaluation of kin d. Opinions of case plan participants e. Child /youth best interest  

  • S4. Apply the steps necessary to prepare permanency resources for case closure, or transfer. a. Articulate permanency recommendations to court and legal partners. 1. Explain why we recommended one plan over others. 2. Explain how we reached our determination. b. Plan for case closure / post-permanency 1. As case gets closer to permanency, helping parent/caregiver know that DCYF will not be available to provide support. 2. Stop providing intensive case management and help them find formal and informal supports to meet needs when we are gone. 3. Make sure referrals are completed, ex. GAP Agreements, WCCC

As a result of this training, you will assess for and pursue the most appropriate permanency plan for each child by engaging families, caregivers, and children in the planning process; applying the CSF and SDM-RA findings to establish behaviorally specific conditions for return home; evaluating kin and foster caregivers as permanency resources; and completing the case closure and transfer steps that support a stable, well-documented transition out of DCYF involvement.

You will recognize that every child deserves a permanent, safe, and culturally connected home and that achieving permanency requires continuous, unbiased assessment, diligent efforts to reunify when it is safe to do so, and to have difficult conversations with families, caregivers, and courts about what a child's best interest requires.

Completion of the course confers 6 credit hours.

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