Consortium for Children (CFC)

Permanency planning mediation (ppm) and covid-relief ppm (crppm) are a child-focused, collaborative, confidential, and voluntary mediation process that assists birth families and potential adoptive or legal guardianship families in developing a contact plan that helps Children maintain important connections post adoption or guardianship. Cfc coordinates this process on behalf of the California department of social services, connecting trained and experienced mediators with eligible families. Families build relationships that are in the Children's best interest, which then expedite Children to permanence and shorten their stays in foster care, thus providing significant cost savings to the child welfare system and the courts.

In collaboration with the adoptions branch of the ca dept. Of social services permanency bureau, cfc implemented a post adoption contact data collection & analysis project through our permanency planning mediation program that endeavors to determine how the covid-19 pandemic has impacted post-adoption services and operations. By mining both existing data sources and creating new data retrieval pathways for long term collection & analysis, these metrics can be used to improve existing programs for families, counties and agencies, avoid future disruptions to critical services, and contribute to thoughtful & effective policy.

Consortium for Children's structured analysis family evaluation program provides training in the safe home study methodology for multiple sectors, including for child welfare workers. for over 15 years, this accomplished program has been used throughout the united states and canada by both public and private agencies. In addition to training, safe provides home study audits and technical assistance for all safe jurisdictions and users.