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Home > Sibling Issues in Foster Care and Adoption: A Bulletin for Professionals > Maintaining Ties Between Separated Siblings
Sibling Issues in Foster Care and Adoption
Bulletin for Professionals
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Year Published: 2006 |
8. Maintaining Ties Between Separated Siblings
When siblings cannot be placed together, facilitating regular contact is critical to maintaining these relationships. Regular contact may even affect permanency outcomes. Findings from the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) conducted in all States found a strong association between visiting with parents and siblings and the outcomes of reunification, guardianship, and placement with relatives (Children's Bureau, 2004).
States vary considerably in their protection of siblings' right to contact in statute or child welfare policies. Even States that have extensive statutory protections governing the treatment of siblings who come under court protection often do not offer much protection of the right of siblings to associate with each other if they are not placed together. In the end, workers and foster or adoptive parents have to understand the importance of sibling contact for the children for whom they are responsible in order to maintain their commitment to making these contacts happen.
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Strategies for Preserving Sibling Ties in Separate Placements
Some promising practices from the field suggest ways to maintain ties among separated siblings.
- Place with kinship caregivers who have an established personal relationship. Even when siblings cannot be placed in the same home, they are more apt to keep in close contact if they are each placed with a relative.
- Place nearby. Placing siblings in the same neighborhood or school district ensures that they will be able to see each other regularly. Also, keeping children in their same schools contributes to better educational outcomes.
- Arrange for regular visits. While there is no consensus on frequency of face-to-face contacts, a minimum of twice a month for siblings separated in foster care has been recommended by some experts in the field. At least two States (Missouri and Utah) require weekly visits (National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning, 2005). Also, visits with birth parents can be arranged to occur at a time when all the siblings can be together.
- Arrange other forms of contact. If the distance between siblings is great, workers need to assist foster and adoptive families in maintaining frequent contacts through letters, email, cards, and phone calls. Make sure that children have full contact information for all their siblings. For instance, providing older siblings with calling cards may facilitate sibling communication.
- Involve families in planning. The adults in the siblings' families should be involved with the worker in developing a plan for ongoing contact. This meeting should include working through any barriers to visits, and the plan needs to be reviewed and revised as needed, at least yearly. Sometimes there are value differences between families or other issues that cause parental discomfort with visits. Such differences need to be discussed and resolved.
- Plan joint outings or camp experiences. Siblings may be able to spend time together at summer or weekend camps, including camps specifically for siblings, or through short-term outings. For instance, Camp To Belong is a camp for siblings separated by foster care. Such camp experiences help siblings build and maintain their relationships.
- Arrange for joint respite care. Families caring for siblings may be able to provide babysitting or respite care for each other, thus giving the siblings another opportunity to spend time together.
- Help children with emotions. Sometimes sibling visits stir up emotional issues in children, such as the intense feelings they may experience when visiting birth parents. Children need to be helped to express and work through these feelings; this does not mean visits should not occur. Visits should provide some opportunities for joint Lifebook work with siblings. If siblings are in therapy, they should be seeing the same therapist, and it may be possible to schedule appointments either jointly or back to back. Children may also need help with feelings of guilt if they have been removed from an abusive home, but other siblings were left behind or born later.
- Encourage sustained contact. Sustaining sibling contact often requires a unique understanding and commitment from parents. Many adoptive parents recognize the importance of their adopted children having contact with siblings living with their birth families or other adoptive families. Some families even travel across the country or to other countries to give their children the opportunity to get to know their siblings. Some States offset the costs of such visits through their adoption subsidy plans. The earlier these relationships can begin, the more children can use these opportunities to work through adoption identity issues that may arise, and the sooner they can develop truly meaningful relationships with siblings.
Many States have adoption registries that can help adult siblings separated by foster care or adoption re-establish contact later in life. The caseworker needs to make sure that all pertinent information on each sibling is entered in the registry at the time of each child's adoption.
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