Engaging Parents in Reunification

Working collaboratively with parents embodies family-centered practice and can facilitate the child’s return home more quickly than if parents are not involved. Engaging parents in the planning process can help ensure they receive the services and supports required for the child's safe return. The following resources provide examples of approaches administrators, supervisors, and frontline workers can use to enhance parent engagement in the case-planning process, including State and local examples.

• Birth parent/foster parent relationships

Family Group Decision-Making: Parent Advocates in New York City [Podcast]
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2017)
Discusses how parent advocates with prior experience with the child welfare system can partner with families in group decision-making.

Family Time/Visitation: The Road to Safe Reunification (PDF - 292 KB)
Laver (2017)
Child Law Practice, 36(2)
American Bar Association Center on Children and the LawHighlights family visitation practices that can improve the experience for the child and family and lead to earlier and safer reunification. Topics include preparing for family visitation, considering the level of supervision needed, prioritizing family time that mimics family life, and addressing barriers.

National Foster Care Month: Implementing Parent Partner Programs and Supporting Reunification [Webinar]
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Provides child welfare professionals with an overview of parent partner programs and explores how these programs benefit parents and children and ultimately support reunification. Registration is required to access this webinar.

National Reunification Month: Innovative Practices to Promote Unification [Video]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (2017)
Highlights State-specific strategies to support reunification and engage caregivers in partnerships.

One Step at a Time
Rise Magazine (2015)
Offers parents information about the process of reunifying with their children. The information includes personal essays from parents who have been through the process. See other publications from Rise Magazine such as, Someone to Turn To (PDF - 3500 KB), Fathers' Rights and Roles (PDF - 411 KB), Addiction in the Family (PDF - 546 KB), and 'I Can and Will Do This!' (PDF - 434 KB).

Parent Partner Program Navigator (PDF - 1,437 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Presents tools and resources for agencies to use to improve existing Parent Partner Programs or design and implement new ones. This web-based tool includes four learning domains: assessing readiness needs and capacity, program design, program management, and engagement & partnerships.

Resource Family Tip Sheet for Supporting Reunification (PDF - 243 KB)
American Bar Association (2017)
Provides practical tips for child welfare professionals engaging families in key processes related to reunification.

Supporting Reunification
CO4Kids
Discusses how foster parents are critical to reunification. Provides quotes from American Bar Association interviews with foster families about how those families have supported reunification.

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State and local examples

Developing and Sustaining a Parent Partner Program [Podcast]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2016)
Discusses the benefits and challenges of developing a parent partner program as experienced by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Parent Mentoring Program in L.A. County Helps Reunify Families Separated by Foster Care
Downing (2017)
The Chronicle of Social Change
Shares the story of two families impacted by the Parents in Partnership program, in L.A. County and regained custody of their children after they were placed into foster care.

Reunify My Family
City of Philadelphia (2018)
Provides information and resources on family reunification, including an explanation of the process and parties involved in the family’s case, parenting support services, and more.

Single Father Uses Experience to Help Other Parents
Casey Family Programs (2016)
Presents how Corey Best reunified with his son and uses his experience to mentor other families navigating the child welfare system.

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