Supporting 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.

Introduction to Parent-Child Visits: An Essential Tool for Family Reunification
Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative
Prepares frontline child welfare workers with knowledge about parent-child visits, including their importance to the well-being of children in out-of-home care. This learning resource requires a free account.

Rise’s TIPS Approach to Supporting Parents in Supervised Visits
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
Availability	View Download (PDF - 575KB) Order (Free)
Disponibilidad	Ver Versión para imprimir (PDF - 837KB) Ordene (Gratis)
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.

Tips for Supporting Virtual Family Time

Series Title	Bulletins for Professionals
Author(s)	Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability	View Download (PDF - 393KB)
Year Published	2020

Provides child welfare professionals with an overview of how they can promote successful virtual family time, including research about virtual interactions, how to prepare children and families, and tips and activities for visits. Family time, also known as parent-child visits, is a key factor in promoting family bonding and setting the stage for successful reunification after a child has been placed in out-of-home care. Although in-person contact is the preferred method for family time, there are extreme occasions when in-person contact is not appropriate or safe, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual family time, during which contact is established through video or streaming services, offers a safe alternative.

Virtual Family Time: Tips for Families

Series Title	Factsheets for Families
Author(s)	Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability	View Download (PDF - 275KB)
Disponibilidad	Ver Versión para imprimir (PDF - 278KB)
Year Published	2020

Provides parents with information about successful virtual family time sessions, including how to prepare, tips, and activities. Family time, also known as parent-child visits, is critical to promoting family bonding and setting the stage for successful reunification. Although in-person contact is preferred, there are extreme occasions when in-person contact is not appropriate or safe, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual family time, during which parents contact their children through video, offers a safe alternative.

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.

R.O.C.K. Mat-Su Implementation Project
University of Denver, Butler Institute for Families
Provides information and resources about the Family Contact Improvement Partnership, a group of organizations, agencies, and community stakeholders committed to improving family contact for children who are in out-of-home care. The website includes a family contact best practices guide (PDF - 7895 KB) for professionals and a video explaining the importance of meaningful, healthy, and culturally-centered family contact for children in out-of-home care.

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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