Dedicated to assuring that no youth will leave the California child welfare system without a permanent lifelong connection to a caring adult

CPYP Merging with Seneca Center
CPYP has completed its funding cycle and is in its final days. CPYP's office in Oakland will be closing January 29, 2010. On February 1, 2010, CPYP will merge with the Seneca Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness, and Robert Friend will begin as director of the Center. The Stuart Foundation has generously provided resources to the Center to support the provision of training and technical assistance to California counties over the next three years to promote family finding and achievement of permanency.

Welcome to the California Permanency for Youth Project (CPYP) website. Children eleven and older in the foster care system have a poor chance of finding a permanent family. When they do not find permanency before they leave the foster care system at age 18, research shows they often become homeless, unemployed, and disconnected. We believe it is the responsibility of the entire community to make sure that each youth who leaves the foster care system in California has a permanent lifelong connection with a caring adult.

This website provides information on programs and strategies for accomplishing permanency for foster youth.

The California Permanency for Youth Project (CPYP), a project of the Public Health Institute, was founded in January 2003 by Pat Reynolds-Harris as a result of a five-year grant awarded by the Stuart Foundation. This grant has since been extended through 2009. Other funders include the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, S.H. Cowell Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and Casey Family Programs.

"It's important to know that there is someone I can count on
who wouldn't turn their back on me."

— California Foster Youth