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Home > Family Reunification: What the Evidence Shows
Family Reunification: What the Evidence Shows
Research on Family Reunification It is clear from a review of the State CFSR Final Reports that numerous factors interact and play important roles in a State's ability to reunify children in foster care with their birth families. Family engagement, assessment, case planning, and service delivery are key. Systemic supports related to funding for services, support from the courts, and stable, competent staff also appear to impact, directly and indirectly, the achievement of reunification goals. A review of the relevant literature sheds additional light upon State CFSR findings regarding the factors in achieving timely, stable reunifications. Family Engagement Is Fundamental to Successful Reunification
The relationship between the caseworker and the family. Both the frequency and the nature of the caseworker's contact with the family are important. Family reunification appears to be facilitated by more frequent caseworker contact (Farmer, 1996; Littell & Schuerman, 1995; Children's Bureau, 2004b). However, parents are sometimes mistrustful of child welfare professionals and thus unwilling to share information or establish a relationship with agency representatives. In a study examining engagement in a sample of 63 families receiving child protective services, the interpersonal relationship with the caseworker was determined to be the strongest predictor of the family's self-report of engagement (Regional Research Institute for Human Services, 1998). The above studies, as well as engagement research in related fields, suggest that the following caseworker behaviors are important in mitigating families' fears and building the rapport necessary for effective helping:
Parent-child visitation. Research supports the significance of parent-child visitation as a predictor of family reunification. A study of reunification in a sample of 922 children aged 12 and younger found that children who were visited by their mothers were 10 times more likely to be reunited (Davis, Landsverk, Newton, & Ganger, 1996). Effective visitation practice goes far beyond attention to the logistics of scheduling and transportation; it provides an opportunity to build parental skills and improve parent-child interaction. Studies suggest that visitation should have a therapeutic focus. Thus, it is important that anyone supervising visits has clinical knowledge and skills (Haight, Sokolec, Budde, & Poertner, 2001). The involvement of foster parents. Foster parents may facilitate family reunification through both the mentoring of the birth parents and the support of their visitation. The development of a positive relationship between the foster and birth parents may allow children to avoid the stress of divided loyalties and position foster parents to play a supportive role after reunification. However, when selecting foster parents to work with birth parents, agencies should consider their experience, maturity, communication skills, their ability to handle these multiple roles, and the possible need for additional training (Lewis & Callaghan, 1993; Sanchirico & Jablonka, 2000). Accurate, Individual Assessment and Case Planning Are Crucial for Successful Reunifications Research has demonstrated that adequate assessment often does not occur in child welfare, and this failing may be linked to the instability of reunification. In a review of 62 failed reunifications, Peg McCartt Hess and her colleagues found that "poor assessment or decision-making by the caseworker or service provider" was a factor in 42 cases (Hess, Folaron, & Jefferson, 1992). The use of standardized tools to aid assessment is an emerging area of child welfare research that offers some promise of improving practice in this area (Corcoran, 1997; McMurtry & Rose, 1998). The North Carolina Family Assessment Scales for Reunification (NCFAS-R), developed by Ray Kirk, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the only validated instrument designed specifically for use in reunification. The NCFAS-R, an adaptation of the original North Carolina Family Assessment Scale used in family preservation, has proven to be an effective tool in assessing readiness for reunification and parent and child ambivalence (Kirk, 2001). Services Should Be Practical and Comprehensive, Addressing All Aspects of Family Life The literature reports on the effectiveness of several types of services: Concrete services. The provision of concrete services such as food, transportation, and assistance with housing and utilities has been demonstrated to be an important aspect of family reunification services. A study reviewing effective family-centered service models (Wells & Fuller, 2000) identified concrete services as critical elements of practice. The most effective programs studied not only provided services to meet concrete needs, but offered families instruction in accessing community resources so that they could do so independently in the future. In a study of 1,014 families participating in a family reunification program in Illinois, the 50 percent of families who experienced reunification demonstrated high utilization of concrete services such as financial assistance and transportation (Rzepnicki, Schuerman, & Johnson, 1997). Substance abuse treatment. The well-documented incidence of parental substance abuse as a factor in the placement of children into foster care (Smokowski & Wodarski, 1996) supports the critical importance of readily available resources for the assessment and treatment of addiction. A few agencies have established alliances with drug treatment centers or brought addiction professionals into the agency to ensure more effective assessment of drug-related needs, treatment planning, and monitoring of progress. Others have undertaken more intensive training of staff in addictions and the process of recovery (Maluccio & Ainsworth, 2003; Hohman & Butt, 2001). Research has shown promising results with three types of service delivery:
Home-based services. Many home-based service models originally developed to prevent out-of-home placement have shown some success in effecting family reunification. In one experimental study, families in the treatment group received intensive casework services, parenting and life skills education, family-focused treatment, and help in accessing community resources. The treatment group had a reunification rate three times that of the control group and remained intact at a far higher rate 7 years later (Lewis, Walton, & Fraser, 1995; Walton, 1998). It is important to note, however, that while some short-term intensive models have demonstrated success in achieving family reunification, not all such programs appear to reduce the risk of re-entry into foster care substantially (Littell & Schuerman, 1995; Wulczyn, 2004). Many families who have experienced placement of one or more children in foster care require longer term intervention and support (Gaudin, 1993). Post-reunification services. Data from the Multistate Foster Care Data Archive indicate that about 25 percent of all children who go home will return to care at some point, often within 1 year (Wulczyn, 2004). Reunification, although a positive milestone for the family, is also a time of readjustment, and a family already under stress can have difficulty maintaining safety and stability. The difficulty is compounded when children or parents have numerous or more complex personal needs, or when environmental factors, such as extreme poverty and a lack of social supports, are present (Festinger, 1996; Terling, 1999). Research suggests that follow-up services that enhance parenting skills, provide social support, connect families to basic resources, and address children's behavioral and emotional needs must be provided if re-entry into foster care is to be prevented. Post-reunification services are especially important when parental drug or alcohol use is a concern (Festinger, 1996; Terling, 1999).
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