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Home > Achieving and Maintaining Permanency > Family Reunification > Related Resources: Family Reunification
Related Resources: Family Reunification
Additional resources on family reunification, including State and local examples of reunification programs.
Assessing the Context of Permanency and Reunification in the Foster Care System
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001)
Six papers about family reunification policy and practice are presented in this report.
Defining Reunification for Consistent Performance Measurement (PDF - 473 KB)
National Data Analysis System (2005)
Asserts most States do not have a clear definition of reunification and presents recommendations to improve consistency of definitions across States.
Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs. Interim Report.
| Author(s): |
Westat., Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago., James Bell Associates.
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| Availability: |
View Publication
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| Year Published: |
2001 - 527 pages |
Researchers conducted a national evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the Homebuilders family preservation program as implemented in Louisville, Kentucky; New Jersey; and Memphis, Tennessee. The Homebuilders model features short-term, time-limited services to families in their home. Workers counsel one or two families at a time and families are contacted within 24 hours of the report of a crisis. The test sites randomly assigned families to the Homebuilders program and to the regular child welfare services. Interviews with caseworkers and parents were conducted to assess parent-child relationships, discipline techniques, housing, child development, and the occurrence of child abuse and neglect. ...
Family Preservation and Reunification Programs in Child Protection Cases: Effectiveness, Best Practices, and Implications for Legal Representation, Judicial Practice, and Public Policy
Kelly
Family Law Quarterly , 34(3), 2000
View Abstract
A best practices model for juvenile justice attorneys and judges, with specific suggestions for incorporating the profile in their assessment of alleged cases of child abuse and neglect.
Family Reunification
Wulczyn
Future of Children , 14(1), 2004
Analyzes new data on trends in family reunification.
Family Reunification: What the Evidence Shows
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.
Foster Care and Family Reunification
Maluccio (1999)
In The Foster Care Crisis: Translating Research Into Policy and Practice
View Abstract
Examines issues involving foster care and family reunification and proposes policy and practice recommendations to reduce the number of children in care.
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
Research and practice recommendations to enhance the potential for mentally ill parents to reunify with their children.
Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children
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."
Intensive Family Reunification Services Protocol
National Family Preservation Network (2003)
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.
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.
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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 New York City Administration for Children's Services' emphasis on neighborhood-based foster placements and presents benefits and barriers to these placements.
Evaluation of the Intensive Reunification Program of Kansas Children's Service League
Berry & McCauley (2005)
View Abstract
Evaluates the effectiveness of a program that provides short-term intensive services to parents of children in foster care.
STAR Project Program Evaluation: October 1, 1998 to September 30, 1999
Epiphany Center (2000)
View Abstract
Evaluates a program to prevent abandonment and increase permanency for infants by engaging parents in family reunification services and identifying alternative caregivers who could assume custody at the end of a 6-month treatment period if necessary.
When Family Reunification Works: Data-Mining Foster Care Records
Cordero
Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 85(4), 2004
View Abstract
Identifies family characteristics and strength-based casework practices associated with positive family reunification outcomes at a New York City foster care agency.
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