Parent-Child Visits

While children are in out-of-home care placements, it is important to maintain connections with their birth families. Parent-child visits are a key strategy to accomplish this and to work toward reunification of the family. Resources include State and local examples.

Best Practice for Father-Child Visits in the Child Welfare System (PDF - 1,147 KB)
National Family Preservation Network (2012)
Outlines guidelines for caseworkers partnering with fathers with children involved in the child welfare system in order to make visitation meaningful and productive.

Rise (2017)
Provides handouts, videos, and posters developed by parents and frontline staff  to better navigate cases and strengthen communication and trust with parents.

Reunification: Bringing Your Children Home From Foster Care
Series Title Factsheets for Families
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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Year Published 2016
Provides a general overview of the reunification process, including what parents can expect while their children are in foster care, what they can do to help their children return home, and what to expect after children return home. Resources available to help families during and after reunification also are included.

What is Family Visitation Within the Foster Care System
Craft (2017)
The Spruce
Explains various aspects of family visitation in the child welfare system, including supervised family visitation, moderated family visitation, and unsupervised family visits.

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State and local examples

2013 Report to the Pennsylvania State Roundtable: "Visitation Is a Right, not a Privilege" (PDF - 811 KB)
Office of Children and Families in the Courts (2013)
Provides a report that presents best practices around visits and oversight developed by the Pennsylvania Visitation Workgroup.

Child and Family Visitation Best Practice Guide (PDF - 793 KB)
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2015)
Outlines the primary purpose of visitation in maintaining parent-child attachment. This resource provides information about timeframes, policy, monitoring, and locations for each successive parent-child visit.

Family Time Visitation in the Child Welfare System (PDF - 456 KB)
Partners for Our Children (2014)
Examines the importance of meaningful family visitation in working towards reunification between parents and children in the child welfare system in the state of Washington.

Strive: Essential Steps for Parenting Success
Partners for Our Children
Explains the ways in which the Strive module seeks to facilitate strong relationships between parents and their children in foster care through education and support.

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