Background

Members include representatives from the child welfare system, the family court system, and the children's mental health system. The main thrust of this Task Force is to advocate for continuity of care in the nurture and development of children and teenagers.

Nowhere is the need for interdisciplinary cooperation greater than when it comes to ensuring that children who must be apprehended by a Children's Aid Society spend as little time as possible "in limbo" (i.e. lacking continuity of care).

Major Publications/Projects

In April 1996 the Task Force produced its first major publication, Children in Limbo. This report was designed to assist service providers and concerned professionals in making sense of the complex maze of problems facing children in limbo, and to examine the damaging effects on children who are waiting ‘in limbo’ without a permanent family or home. The document described and illustrated in detail the number of factors and issues - both clinical and court-related - which contribute to children being in these circumstances.

In February 2002 the Task Force launched another follow-up publication, Permanency Planning in the Child Welfare System. Designed with the intent of proposing strategies that will keep children and youth out of “Limbo”, this report features chapters by experts on topics including “The Changing Face of Adoption”, “When Should Children be Taken into Care?” and many other important issues. Lighting the way to keeping children out of limbo and finding them secure, permanent homes, this book answers some of the key issues related to serving children and youth in care including:

	Factors Affecting Case Planning
	Extending Options in Permanency Planning
	The Decision to Take Children Into Care
	Use of Risk Assessment Tools
	Truth or Consequences
	The Role of Access
	Adoption and the Issue of Contact
	Mediation in Open Adoptions
	Access and the Changing Face of Adoption
	Foster Care and Staff-Operated Settings
	The Recognition, Prevention and Management of Attachment Disorders in the Child Welfare System
	Youth Transition to Independence

This report provides a practical look at the options and decision-making process in child welfare, and is intended to be a resource for all who work with children in the child welfare system – from foster parents and social workers to judges and teachers – as they look for solutions that will work for children.

ORDER NOW!

PERMANENCY PLANNING IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM
Copies of this report are still available and must be ordered though the Canadian Resource Center for Children & Youth (CRCY).

		Click » here for the order form (MS Word 24KB) Click » here for the order form (PDF 26KB) Sparrow Lake Alliance Members ONLY
		Click » here for the order form (MS Word 22KB) Click » here for the order form (PDF 10KB) Non- Members

The Sparrow Lake Alliance and the Children in Limbo Task Force wish to acknowledge The Children’s Aid Foundation, The Hope for Children Foundation, and The Toba Korenblum Fund for Children who so generously provided the funding for this publication.

Current Activities

The Task Force is currently embarking on yet another major report/publication which will address how the judicial system and child welfare and mental health services can work together to better-serve children in care. Some of the issues currently under discussion include:

		Parenting capacity assessments and the child welfare and court systems
		The court system from the perspective of the child
		The “silo” approach to case management in child protection