METHODOLOGY for Permanency Index Reports     close window Permanency indices are useful as measures of comparing within county or statewide performance over time, by age, or by race/ethnicity. Since the dynamics that determine the denominator used to compute the indices may vary greatly among counties, comparison among counties is not recommended. The permanency indices are computed by dividing the number of children exiting foster care to permanency in a given year (reunification, adoption, Kin-GAP, guardianship, or total permanency) by the total number of unique children in care at any time during the year. As such, it is NOT a longitudinal outcome measure. The total number of children with exits and the corresponding indices are presented, along with age by ethnic indices. close window