*Severe Disabilities IDENTIFIERS *Permanency Planning

The paper advocates the extension of the basic protections of "permanency planning " to all children and youth, including those with severe handicaps. It discusses the concept and process of permanency planning and notes its promise in improving the opportunities of all children and youth to grow up 4-1 a stable family environment. It demonstrates the need for major initiatives in this area by providing statistics on the number of children and youth with mental retardation in long-term care settings without such protections. It describes current programs operating according to the principles and procedures of permanency plarning. It recommends sijnificant changes in existing federal policy to require permanency planning as part of all considerations of federally supported outof-home care for all children, including those with severe disabilities. (Author) ************************************************Y*****1r**************** Rer"oductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U S DEPARTMENT Of- EOUCATIO