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Family Reunification: What the Evidence Shows
Issue Brief

Author(s):  Child Welfare Information Gateway

Year Published:  2006

You are in section: Table of Contents The Child and Family Services… Research on Family Reunification… Examples From the Field… Program Support for Reunification… References

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Issue briefs include a review of research and policies to bring together current information with examples of promising practices.

Family reunification in child welfare refers to the process of returning children in temporary out-of-home care to their families of origin. Reunification is both the most common goal for children in out-of-home care as well as the most common outcome. According to preliminary estimates from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), reunification was the case plan goal for nearly half (45 percent) of all children in foster care on September 30, 2002. More than half (54 percent) of the children who exited foster care during fiscal year 2002 returned to a parent or principal caregiver (Children's Bureau, 2004a).

Since the majority of children who leave foster care are reunified with their families, it is important to focus on practices that help achieve successful reunification. A broad review of the empirical literature in child welfare suggests common characteristics of interventions that are most helpful in reunifying families when child maltreatment has been identified.¹ These include:

Family engagement. Engagement of families is critical to the change process (Dawson & Berry, 2002; Yatchmenoff, 2001).

Assessment and case planning. Individualized needs assessment and clear, mutually established goals are critical to case planning (DePanfilis, 1999; Macdonald, 2001).

Service delivery. Cognitive-behavioral, multi-systemic, skills-focused services have been found to be most effective. (Corcoran, 2000; Macdonald, 2001).

Table of Contents

1. The Child and Family Services Reviews and Family Reunification
   
   
2. Research on Family Reunification
   
   
3. Examples From the Field
   
   
4. Program Support for Reunification
   
   
5. References

This issue brief was developed in partnership with the Child Welfare League of America, under subcontract to the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect.

This series is made possible by the Children's Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The conclusions discussed here are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views or policies of the funding agency.

Suggested citation: National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information. (2005). Family reunification: What the evidence shows. Washington, DC: Author.

You are in section: Table of Contents The Child and Family Services… Research on Family Reunification… Examples From the Field… Program Support for Reunification… References

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¹ It should be noted that the literature addresses some effective reunification strategies at the agency level, rather than at the level of caseworker interventions:

• Research suggests that caseworkers who have social work education and greater experience are better able to facilitate permanency (Ahart, Bruer, Rutsch, & Zaro, 1992; Albers, Reilly, & Rittner, 1993; Walton, Fraser, Pecora, & Walton, 1993).
• More flexible funding that allows agencies to provide better community-based services to families can also lead to greater rates of reunification (Wulczyn & Martin, 2001; Wulczyn, Zeidman, & Svirsky, 1997). Waivers of constraints on categorical funding and collaboration with community agencies to form more efficient service networks have the potential to affect reunification efforts positively by making more formal and informal resources available to families.

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Examples and resources in this document are informational only and do not represent an endorsement by the Children's Bureau.

This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Updated on December 10, 2007