Post adoption and guardianship instability, when children who have exited foster care to adoption and guardianship no longer live with their adoptive parent or legal guardian, occurs between 5% and 20% of the time.
The Post Adoption and Guardianship Instability Tracking Toolkit is designed to help child welfare agencies develop a systematic way to track instability for children who exit foster care through adoption or guardianship. Tracking instability over time can help agencies better understand how many families struggle after adoption or guardianship. Better tracking may also help agencies identify and respond to challenges early and intervene before crises and instability occur.
The Toolkit includes:
- A User Guide (PDF): This guide explains how to use the tools available in the tracking workbook. It also includes an example letter that agencies can send to families with questions that ask about the whether the child still lives with their adoptive parent or guardian and child well being.
- A Tracking Workbook (Excel Workbook): This workbook includes tools that use information that child welfare agencies may already have about children who exited foster care through adoption or guardianship to determine if they have experienced instability.
A webinar (PDF) that describes how to use the Toolkit is also available.