Increasingly, foster parents are seen as key players in the team working to achieve permanency for children in foster care. Foster parents often work with birth parents and support reunification efforts. They also may consider adopting the children in their care if the children cannot return home. As the children's primary caretakers, foster parents can have significant roles in carrying out the tasks in the permanency plan. The following resources offer a range of approaches for integrating foster parents throughout the permanency process.
Adopting Your Foster Child: What Every Parent Needs to Know (PDF - 140 KB)
Krebs (2016)
Center for Adoption Support and Education
Describes the process of adoption after foster care and some of the challenges that could arise. It also explains how foster parents can plan for the changes and emotional reactions that adoption will bring.
Birth-Foster Parent Mentoring Teams [Podcast]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2019)
Features a conversation with birth and foster parent mentors and leaders, along with the 2018 California Social Worker of the year, as they describe their work toward changing the culture around foster care to support reunification by creating relationships and partnerships between birth and foster parents.
Birth and Foster Parent Partnership
Promotes increased coordination between birth parents and foster parents in order to improve permanency outcomes for children in out-of-home care. The organization shares several strategies to help birth parents and foster parents to partner for permanency.
Caregivers Fostering Permanency: A Resource Guide for Child Welfare Workers (PDF - 1,249 KB)
Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership (2014)
Provides information for child welfare workers as they work with and empower foster parents to better support permanency. The guide includes information on how foster parents can communicate with birth parents, participate in reunification efforts, support and provide emotional support to children, and more.
Case Planning for Families Involved With Child Welfare Agencies
Developing Foster Care Plan (PDF - 409 KB)
Virginia Department of Social Services (2017)
Child and Family Services Manual
Describes the process of developing service plans for foster youth in Virginia and highlights the importance of engaging foster and adoptive parents in this process. Actively engaging foster parents and other significant individuals leads to decisions that are more individualized and relevant to the family, increasing the likelihood of successful implementation and lasting change.
Engaging the Child, Family, and Significant Adults (PDF - 587 KB)
Virginia Department of Social Services (2017)
Child and Family Services Manual
Discusses the importance of family engagement with youth and family members, including foster parents, in order to make well-informed decisions about safety, permanency, lifelong connections, and well-being.
Family Engagement: Partnering With Families to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes
Foster Care: A Path to Reunification Podcast (Part 2) [Podcast]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2019)
Explores trainings and collaborations within San Diego County’s Children’s Services that engage birth families and resource families to work together to build parents’ capacity and support a greater chance at reunification.
Foster Care to Adoption – Preparing Youths and Families for the Transition
Siegal (2018)
Social Work Today, 18(6)
Discusses the permanency planning process when children move from foster care to adoption. The article describes how to prepare the child and family members for the permanency change. It also discusses some useful tools that can help with the transition, such as a "life book" for the child and plans for maintaining relationships with the birth family, and steps social workers can take to help the family thrive.
How Can Birth and Foster Parent Partnerships Help Families Reunify?
Casey Family Programs (2018)
Examines how birth parents and foster parents can work together to mentor and support other parents who recently had children removed from their homes. Key elements to this approach to permanency include working together in partnership, modeling appropriate behavior, clear communication, providing a support network, and advocating for the best interests of children as a united front.
How to Support Reunification: Even if You Don’t Want to
Bailey (2017)
Adoption.com
Lists ways to cope with and manage responsibilities throughout the reunification process.
Ice Breakers: Tapping Into the Power of Families Supporting Families (PDF - 349 KB)
American Bar Association (2019)
Recognizes the important role foster parents play in supporting the birth parents and their reunification efforts, which has led to new communication and partnership practices.
A Movement to Transform Foster Parenting (PDF - 1,649 KB)
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2016)
Explores how agencies can engage and empower foster parents, find and keep more caregivers for children, and can work to build strong relationships with foster parents. Building these relationships means involving the foster parents in decisions relating to outcomes for children, considering the importance of foster parents when making administrative decisions, and treating foster parents as a full members of the child’s team helping to achieve their permanency plan.
Resource Families Supporting Reunification (PDF - 161 KB)
American Bar Association (2017)
Describes how foster families are one of the most important resources when it comes to helping children reunify with their families. This publication provides interviews with resource families, discussing their motivations, practices, and goals. The resource families detailed how building strong relationships with birth families led to easier reunifications and promoted stability for the children.
Tip Sheet for Supporting Family Reunification
Leader (2018)
American Bar Association
Provides tips for foster care parents on how they can best support reunification. The tips included respect birth parents and be compassionate, encourage visitation and contact, communicate regularly with the child's family, pursue safe reunification, and promote cooperative reunification-centered approaches.
What Are Some Effective Strategies for Achieving Permanency? (PDF - 2,150 KB)
Casey Family Programs (2018)
Reviews promising and evidence-based strategies to achieve permanency for children in out-of-home care, including building relationships between birth parents and foster parents to work toward reunification. It is in the best interests of the child to ensure that foster parents work with birth parents and engage in building relationships.