Session: Authentically Engaging Youth in Permanency (Society for Social Work and Research 27th Annual Conference - Social Work Science and Complex Problems: Battling Inequities + Building Solutions)

Authentic youth engagement in child welfare has not been truly defined nor fully mandated through policy. Studies in the US found children in foster care felt they had "limited opportunities to be involved in important decisions made about their life" (Cashmore, 2002). This symposium presents the results from three qualitative studies that were conducted in the first months of 2022. The purpose of the studies was to identify authentic youth engagement in permanency planning from three perspectives: youth with lived experience, child welfare workforce professionals, and court professionals. Paper 1 describes findings from eight individual interviews with court professionals regarding their experiences with youth engagement in permanency planning. Paper 2 describes the findings from 15 individual interviews with members of the child welfare workforce (workers, supervisors, and administrators) on youth engagement in permanency planning. Paper 3 describes the findings from 15 individual interviews with youth with recent lived experience in foster care on their experiences with youth engagement and permanency planning. These three studies offer insight into the benefits of, barriers to, and recommendation for authentic youth engagement.