Start the search for permanency on day one, LA County guests say

Los Angeles County child-welfare leaders and guests said on a Talk to Me podcast episode that the search for permanency for young people in foster care must begin the day a child enters the system to reduce the number who “age out” without a family.

The search for permanency matters because too many young people leave foster care without a stable adult or home, speakers said. Michael Nash, executive director of the Office of Child Protection and a former Los Angeles County juvenile court judge, noted the county now has about 20,000 children in care compared with roughly 60,000 in 1990 and said “there are 2,500 kids plus between the ages of 18 and 21 in this in the system” with “a thousand to 1,500 kids aging out of the system every year.”

Nash framed permanency within child welfare’s stated goals: “When we talk about the child welfare system, the three main tenets of the system are safety, well-being of our kids, and permanency,” he said, and added that family reunification is “the most important form of permanency.”

Guests on the episode — host Sherry Bradford, Sorel Steinfeld (chief technology officer, Gifted Cone), and Nash — discussed practical steps to increase long-term stability for youth in care. Steinfeld said planning must start immediately: “The search for permanency needs to start at day 1. When a child first comes into the system. Obviously, we wanna make sure they're safe, but what the system needs to be focusing on is the long term.”

Speakers urged priority placement with relatives when removal is necessary. Nash said placing children with kin provides “a sense of belonging, a sense of permanency,” and cited studies showing better education, health and permanency outcomes for children placed with family rather than strangers. Both guests and Nash also highlighted adoption as the most permanent option when reunification is not possible.

Panelists described gaps in supports for older youth and transition-age youth. Nash said Los Angeles has more transitional housing than many jurisdictions but “it’s still not nearly enough” for young people leaving care, and guests recounted individual cases to illustrate how limited access to housing, employment supports and flexible visitation arrangements can derail reunification or stability. Steinfeld and other participants also described community-based efforts — mentoring, job training and professional networks — that can provide ongoing adult supports when families are not available.

The episode raised concerns about inequities that can affect reunification rates for Black and Latino families and about policies labeled as permanency that can expire; Nash criticized legal guardianship as impermanent, saying it “expires at the age of 18” and therefore can leave young people vulnerable when supports end. Steinfeld and Nash both pressed for clearer information for youth about available services and for systems that treat services as part of a long-term plan rather than temporary stopgaps.

The conversation closed with a call to coordinate social-service agencies, nonprofits and community mentors to form a “village” of supports for young people in care. Host Sherry Bradford said resources mentioned in the episode “will be down below.”

Podcast excerpts and personal anecdotes on the episode illustrated both systemic numbers and on-the-ground barriers but did not record any formal votes or policy changes during the conversation.