Destination Family

No child is “unadoptable.” Every youth deserves the love and commitment of a safe and nurturing family, which is the goal of Stanford Sierra Youth & Families’ Destination Family (DF) program.

Destination Family is a one-of-a-kind youth-focused recruitment program that is designed to achieve legal permanency for youth in foster care who have one or more barriers to permanency. The program learns the unique needs of each youth and finds families for youth who may otherwise age out of the system without any family support or connections.

When cases are referred, reunification services have ceased and county partners work in collaboration with the DF team members to identify and explore all legal permanency options. Often times the youth who most benefit from DF services are those who are medically fragile, ethnically diverse, teenagers, are part of a sibling  set that should not be separated, have had unstable placements, or have been placed in STRTP.

The DF team provides family finding, youth-focused recruitment, and ongoing family support. The team connects youth to community-based resources based on their identified need, prepares them for a family and, once a family is located, supports the family through to finalization.

There is no set time limit for the provision of services for a particular youth. The DF team closes the youth’s case when a child has reunified with their family, adoption has been finalized, or the court has granted legal guardianship.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Please contact our Destination Family Program Manager at (916) 344-0199.