The Family Ties Project strives to develop permanency planning for HIV-affected families and children. Permanency planning is complex, and can be a difficult and lengthy process for both clients and providers. Its programmatic components must be comprehensive in order to meet the needs of families affected by HIV/AIDS. Among many definitions of permanency planning, the following is the one preferred by the Family Ties Project staff.
The goal of permanency planning is to assist parents in making legal arrangements for the future care of their children in the event of the parents' incapacity or death. Permanency planning programs empower parents with the ability to effectively govern their families by providing the requisite resources for healthy child development. The principles of permanency planning are to maintain, wherever appropriate, continuity of family, to retain parental involvement, and to create stability during the transition from biological family to new caregiver. Therefore, the goal is to assist parents in legalizing custodial care for their children. The success of permanency planning depends upon its ability to address the complex needs of HIV [affected] families and the social challenges they encounter. 1
The Family Ties Project now refers to the process of permanency planning as "life planning," a term acknowledging that since nothing in life is permanent, planning must be on-going and flexible. The project's experience in designing and institutionalizing a program to provide permanency planning services in the District of Columbia is described in this report. The report summarizes Family Ties Project activities from October 2000 to September 2001, and describes the clients served and the services provided. For information about the first 4 years of the project visit the Family Ties Project Web site at http://www.familytiesproject.org.