Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
Division of Training and Development
Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (PPLA) with Relative
ØAll children should have the best possible opportunity to grow up within a safe, nurturing family, wither their biological family or if that is not possible, within an adoptive family.
ØThe State should make reasonable efforts to avoid foster care placement by providing services to preserve the biological family whenever that is reasonable possible.  However, child welfare decision-makers must have the professional capacity to make determinations as to when making efforts to preserve the biological family, or leaving the child with that family is neither safe for the child nor likely to lead to an appropriate result for the child.
ØFoster care must be as temporary an arrangement as possible, with its goal being to provide a permanent home for the child as quickly as possible.  In making the determination about what plans and services will best meet this goal, the child’s interests must be paramount.
ØChildren in out-of-home placements must have timely decision-making about where and with whom they will spend their childhood, and timely implementation of whatever decisions have been made.
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Principle(s)