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 adoption. The program learns the unique needs of each youth served and finds family for youth who may otherwise end up living in long-term foster care. When cases are referred, reunification services have ceased in the eyes of the court and there is no plan for legal permanency. Oftentimes the youth who most benefit from DF services are youth who are medically fragile, ethnically diverse, teenagers, or part of a sibling set that should not be separated. Without specialized permanency services, many of the youth served would age out of the system without any family support or connections. The DF team provides family finding, youth-focused recruitment, and ongoing family supports. The team links 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.