2024 Family Unification Month Webinars
Increasing Reunification Efforts by
Eliminating Child Support Referrals
As part of National Family Unification Month, panelists discussed new federal guidelines designed to improve unification efforts along with prevent unnecessary family separations, current child support practices, and the harmful impact of these practices in delaying reunifying families. Hear from Shrounda Selivanoff, Social Service Manager at the Washington State Office of Public Defense Parent Representation Program, Jill Duerr Berrick, Ph.D., Professor of Social Welfare at University of California at Berkeley, and Jey Rajaraman, Associate Director, Legal Representation Projects at the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, as they discussed how we can concretely challenge harmful practices and implement these shifting guidelines in and out of the courtroom.
Download the powerpoint for the program here.
To see a map of states and localities that have changed laws or regulations to restrict child support collection for foster care, click here.
For more information on this topic visit Shifting Federal Guidance on Mandatory Child Support Orders.
What does Preserving Families look like Under ICWA and for Indigenous Families
During this Family Unification Month, the Center, along with its national partners, will be highlighting how we as a community of advocates can better achieve prevention and reunification planning effectively as a primary goal. This webinar focused on the importance of cultural connections in supporting families within the Indigenous communities involved with the child welfare system. Learn from Lived Expertise, Parent Advocates, and legal experts on ICWA and on how to integrate cultural teachings inside the courtroom and within case work practices. Speakers will include Forester Middleton, Community Advocate, Shana King , Parent Mentor, ICWA Law, Kyle Spang, Community Advocate, Sheldon Spotted Elk, Senior Director at Casey Family Programs, Judicial National Engagement and others.
2023 Webinars
Quality Improvement Center for Family-Centered Reunification: How to Improve Services and Speed Reunification for Families
This webinar, held June 29, 2023, provides an overview of the QIC-R and implementation sites located in Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, and New York. These sites are implementing and evaluating interventions designed to improve services for families and decrease the timeframe of reunification for families involved in child welfare.
What Child Welfare Agencies Can Do to Support Reunification Webinar
This webinar, held June 7, 2023, explores the role of child welfare agencies in supporting the connection between resource/foster caregivers and parents whose children are in foster care. It offers concrete ways child welfare agencies can be a partner in supporting reunification through this relationship and other practices.
Experiences in the Reunification Process Webinar
In this webinar, held April 19, 2023, panelists shared their experiences as parents, foster parents, and permanency workers and strategies to empower families and resolve barriers to reunification.
Previous Webinars
Supporting Families through Reunification and Beyond
Presenters explore four key areas that support successful and lasting reunification: Family Team Meetings (Building a Team), Conditions for Return, Discharge Planning/Post-Reunification Supports, and Case Worker/Family Relationships.
Building Parent Leadership and Power to Support Faster, Lasting Reunification and Prevent System Involvement
The webinar, hosted by Rise, a New York City advocacy organization, introduces the Rise CORE Program, which equips parent advocates to help parents navigate the system and give them with skills, tools, and resources to reunify quickly and avoid re-entering the system.
Discussing Reunification with Chauncey Strong
In this Maryland Resource Parent Association video, Chauncey Strong highlights the importance of reunification and his work in this area.
All in for Reunification 2021
A webinar for foster care managers about Reunification Month to get them interested in honoring families in their states, and professionals who assisted them, throughout the year. 2021's theme was "All in for Reunification 2021" and the goal was for every state to participate. Held March 25, 2021.
Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast: Reunification
This episode focuses on the current reality of reunification across our public child welfare system. Listeners will hear a conversation among child welfare professionals, members of the American Bar Association (ABA) Center on Children and the Law, the Children’s Bureau, and an alumnus of foster care.
Building Partnerships Between Parents and Caregivers: A Community-Based Multidisciplinary Approach to Strengthening Families
In this webinar, Birth Parent National Network leaders and lawyers who work as part of interdisciplinary legal representation teams shared: new Birth and Foster Parent Partnership Tools, the importance of parents and caregivers working together to achieve positive outcomes for children, and how the legal team can support the relationships between parents and caregivers.
Tips for Supporting Parents in Supervised Visits
A video by Rise Magazine with tips from parents who have navigated the child welfare system on supporting parents in supervised visits.
Multidisciplinary Representation and its Positive Impact on Reunification
This webinar highlights the benefits multidisciplinary legal teams, explains the Children’s Bureau recent decision to invest federal IV-E dollars in the multidisciplinary legal representation model for parents and children, shares a 2019 study on this model, and explains how this model supports child welfare agencies and most importantly, children and their parents.
Birth Parent National Network Webinar
A webinar held on Thursday June 28, 2018. Center staff attorney Mimi Laver presented highlights from national reunification month efforts.
Coffee with Caregivers: National Reunification Month
Irene Clements, National Foster Parent Association, discussed National Reunification Month with Chauncey Strong, Executive Director of Strong Training and Consulting, LLC. Mr. Strong is a child welfare advocate with more than 26 years of child welfare experience specializing in foster care and adoption.