Hope For Youth Participates in Permanency Summit

For three consecutive years now the Redlich Horwitz Foundation has held annual Permanency Summits with OCFS and Casey Family Programs. These Summits consist of two-day convening’s in December, bringing together child welfare leaders, judges and stakeholders from the 11 largest NY counties to learn from experts and each other about strategies to enhance permanency in their counties. Sessions with collegial and collaborative atmospheres are held which focus on improving kinship care, addressing disproportionality, developing reinvestment strategies, permanency for youth with intellectual & developmental disabilities, rapid permanency reviews, engaging birth parents, and more. These sessions also entail panels featuring innovative strategies to improve permanency in all NYS counties, reinforcing the Redlich Horwitz Foundations work to increase and improve family-based care and reducing time to permanence for all children in the New York State foster care system.

This year, Hope For Youth was honored to be invited to the 2017 Summit as representatives of Nassau and Suffolk county teams for the first time. Catherine Travers, Director of Program Development, attended as a member of the Suffolk County team, and Irma Edington, Director of Foster Care and Preventive Services, attended as a member of the Nassau County team. Due to Hope For Youths developing relationships and ongoing collaborations with the counties, family court judges, department of social services staff and private sector providers over the years, the agencies work towards permanency for Long Island children has been greatly recognized.

To learn more about The Redlich Horwitz Foundation visit their website: https://www.rhfdn.org/