Beyond Permanency Planning: Restructuring the Public Child Welfare System

Examined in terms of its outcomes, the permanency planning movement is shown to have failed on several counts. It is argued that the movement has failed mainly because of its lack of impact on the provision of preventive and supportive services and because of its superimposition on a child welfare system with a dysfunctional structure in regard to prevention. Based on a re-conceptualization of child welfare problems, a fundamental restructuring of the system is proposed.