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Family Reunification
When children must be removed from their birth families for their protection, the first goal is to achieve reunification as safely as possible. Child welfare agencies implement multifaceted strategies that build on strengths and address concerns. Returning children home often requires intensive, family-centered services to support a safe and stable family. The following resources address family reunification in child welfare, including State and local examples.
- Engaging parents in reunification
- Reunification assessment
- Reunification with substance-abusing parents
- Preventing re-entry
Supporting Reunification and Preventing Reentry Into Out-of-Home Care | |
Series Title: | Bulletins for Professionals |
Author(s): | Child Welfare Information Gateway. |
Availability: | View Download (PDF - 576KB) Order (Free) - Add to Cart |
Year Published: | 2012 - 16 pages |
Explores the research on best practices for supporting families after children return from out-of-home care. This publication looks at the benefits of supporting family reunification and preventing reentry, approaches and specific strategies, and State and local examples of strategies. |
Family Reunification: What the Evidence Shows | |
Series Title: | Issue Briefs |
Author(s): | Child Welfare Information Gateway |
Availability: | View Download (PDF - 257KB) Order (Free) - Add to Cart |
Year Published: | 2011 - 20 pages |
Family reunification, the process of returning children in temporary out-of-home care to their families of origin, is the most common goal and outcome for children in out-of-home care. This issue brief examines States' successes and challenges related to family reunification, as documented in the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews; reviews research regarding factors contributing to timely, stable reunifications; offers specific program examples that illustrate these factors; and uses all of the above to suggest several guiding principles for practice in this critical area of permanency planning. |
Cornerstone Advocacy in the First 60 Days: Achieving Safe and Lasting Reunification for Families (PDF - 264 KB)
New York State Child Welfare Court Improvement Project
CWCIP Best Practice Bulletin, 3(1), 2011
Summarizes key elements of the Cornerstone approach to supporting family reunification with intensive advocacy during the first 60 days of a child welfare case and the use of preliminary conferences to ensure timely and well-informed decisions regarding placement, visiting, and services. A preliminary conference checklist and list of resources are also included.
Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs Overview
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002)
Presents a series of reports from a project that evaluated programs designed to prevent, when possible, the placement of children in foster care and to reunify families that had at least one child placed in foster care. The website includes interim and final reports as well as related issue papers on family preservation, fiscal reform, and cost estimation.
Identifying and Reducing Barriers to Reunification for Seriously Mentally Ill Parents Involved in Child Welfare Cases (PDF - 648 KB)
Risley-Curtiss, Stromwall, Hunt, & Teska
Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 85(1), 2004
Presents research and practice recommendations to enhance the potential for mentally ill parents to reunify with their children.
Intensive Family Reunification Services Protocol
National Family Preservation Network
Provides an overview of the history, values and beliefs, program standards, research, public policy, and resources on safely and effectively reuniting families following out-of-home placement.
Introduction to Parent-Child Visits
Child Welfare Information Gateway & National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
Provides a self-guided online training course for child welfare and related professionals to improve outcomes through parent-child visits and enhance efforts toward family reunification.
National Reunification Day
American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
Provides planning tools for organizing a celebration of successful family reunifications for children in foster care and shares examples of State and local events.
Promoting Permanency: Successful Exits from Therapeutic Group Care Through Family and Community Reintegration
Casey Family Programs (2009)
Features a brief video that shares the stories of three families reunited through the Child Protective Services Reintegration Pilot Project, which provides an extensive network of wraparound services and supports to caregivers of youth who are in the foster care system and are attempting to reintegrate into their homes and communities. A discussion guide for facilitators is also available.
Reuniting Looked After Children With Their Families
Biehal (2006)
Reviews research in the United Kingdom and the United States on patterns and outcomes of reuniting children with their birth families.
Reunification Resources
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
Offers a collection of publications, State resources, and other materials addressing family reunification policies and practices.
State and local examples
Closer To Home: Keeping Foster Children Near Their Parents Can Help Families Rebuild (PDF - 556 KB)
Glenn, Nauer, & Reibel (2004)
Discusses the New York City Administration for Children's Services' emphasis on neighborhood-based foster placements and presents benefits and barriers to these placements.
Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children: Summary of State Laws | |
Series Title: | State Statutes |
Author(s): | Child Welfare Information Gateway |
Availability: | View Download (PDF - 391KB) |
Year Published: | 2009 - 46 pages |
Reasonable efforts refer to efforts made by State social services agencies to provide the assistance and services needed to preserve and reunify families. Laws in all States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico require the provision of services that will assist families in remedying the conditions that brought the child and family into the child welfare system. The statutes in most States, however, use a broad definition of what constitutes reasonable efforts. Some commonly used terms associated with reasonable efforts include "family reunification," "family preservation," "family support," and "preventive services." Summaries of laws for all States and U.S. ... |