The percentage of children discharged to reunification/relative placement remained at 86% for FFY 1997 through 1999. For this same time period, the median months to discharge (for children having reunification/relative placement as their permanency goal) increased from 3.94 to 5.32 (35%). The increased number of children entering foster care, in conjunction with the extreme case manager turn over rate, adversely affected the median months to (reunification) discharge. However, the total number of children discharged increased by approximately 56% from 1997 to 1999 and the number of children discharged to adoption nearly doubled from 566 in 1997 to 1,042 in 1999. Additionally, the median months to discharge (for children having adoption as their permanency goal) decreased from 41.49 months to 37.13 months. The decrease in the months to discharge to adoption and the increase in the total number of discharges are due in large part to Georgia's commitment to implementing ASFA and improving permanency outcomes for children.

Georgia's policies and procedures were revised; child welfare staff, judges, special assistants to the Attorney General (SAAG), foster and adoptive providers received information, intensive training and technical assistance regarding ASFA requirements and the policy revisions. In 1997, prior to ASFA, Georgia passed Senate Bill 611, entitled "Deprived Child Removed from the Home-Reunification Services", which put in place legislation and state policy allowing the child welfare system the option to file for non-reunification to expedite permanency.

Since 1997, DHR annually sponsors the Georgia Foster Parent and Staff Development Institutes in various locations around the state. The Institutes are designed to meet the training needs of Georgia's foster parents by providing support for their continuing development at the local level. The purpose of the Institute is to:

• Assist foster parents in managing the difficult behaviors of children placed in their homes;

• Ensure that Georgia's children in foster care are entrusted to foster parents who have received the highest quality training available;

• Provide strategies to support foster parents in managing the behaviors of varying age groups;

• Develop partnerships at the local level to support foster parents/agency networks in helping families to cope with the management of difficult behaviors.

• Provide foster parents with the skills and training required for meeting the needs of medically fragile children placed in their care.

The expected Institute outcomes are to promote what is working, to make improvements/changes in specific areas as needed, and to discontinue non-productive practices.

There has been very little change in the reunification/relative placement permanency goals from 1997 to 1999, with 67% overall and 90% of the First-Time Cohort having this goal. The proportion seeking adoption as a permanency goal has increased in the overall group from 16% in 1997 to 20% in 1999, while remaining nearly constant at about 6% in the First-Time Entry Cohort. This increase is attributable to ASFA and state policy changes

The proportions of children discharged to reunification/relative placement have remained nearly constant from 1997 to 1999 at 64% overall (Point-Time group) and 86% for the First-Time Entry Cohort. Similarly, the proportions discharged to adoption have remained nearly constant at 17% overall and 2% for the First-Time Entry Cohort. Children removed for the first time are inherently more likely to be reunified and less likely to be adopted within the cohort's six month observation time.

The median length of stay for children who were reunified or placed with relatives increased 35% from 3.94 months in 1997 to 5.32 months in 1999. This increase is somewhat related to the large increase in the number of discharges from 1997 to 1999. The effort to discharge many children who had been in foster care for extended periods has had the side effect of increasing the median length of stay in 1999. Of course the high rate of case manager turnover (44% annual) and attendant decrease in the level of experience (3.5 months, on average) are also likely causes for this increase in reunification times.

The 11% decrease in the median length of time to adoption (41 months in 1997 to 37 months in 1999) and the large increase in the number of children adopted (84% from 1997 to 1999) are indicative of Georgia's efforts and investment into our state Office of Adoptions.