Additional Resources

Why Celebrating Reunification Month Matters

This article highlights the importance of celebrating parents and maintaining families. It reminds that "[t]his month is meant to be a social justice call to advocates – a time to highlight the importance that families receive due process, protection of parental constitutional rights and that parental voices are integrated in every decision-making moment..."

Reunification: Providing Hope and Plan with Family Centered Treatment

A 2021 white paper on family-centered treatment, a home-based treatment model for families faced with forced removal of their children from the home or dissolution of the family due to external and internal stressors and circumstances.

Child Welfare Information Gateway Reunification Resources

Use these resources to help engage children and families in the reunification process, equip parents to resolve issues that led to family separation, help increase reunification rates for families from diverse backgrounds, and address racial disproportionality and disparity in child welfare.

Congressional Black Caucus Special Order

On June 20, 2023, the Congressional Black Caucus issued a special order focusing on national reunification month.

Children's Bureau Express Issue Spotlight on Reunification

The June 2023 "Children's Bureau Express" highlights reunification and the importance of supporting families as they work toward their reunification goals.

New Center to Support Resource Parents

The Children’s Bureau has awarded Maryland DHS a grant to create a Center for Excellence in Resource Family Development (CfE): The CfE model trains and supports resource parents through an evidence-based intervention to work in collaboration with birth families to preserve and nurture critical parent-child relationships and support reunification.

How foster parents can support reunification

An AdoptUSKids foster care and adoption specialist shares strategies around partnering with the birth families.

A Day to Remember

In this Rise article, Keyna Franklin recounts the day her four children came home from foster care, a day she waited a year and three months for after successfully completing services to allow their safe return.

Oregon Refocuses on Reunification

Oregon's Department of Human Services (ODHS) created a Reunification Program Manager position to send a clear message that it believes children should be home with their families.

We are the Lucky Ones: Reunification Stories by Former Foster Youth

Four youth from Legal Services of New Jersey's Reunified Foster Youth Program share their powerful reunification stories.

More Resources

Achieving Permanency Through Reunification

This article describes a national training program from Plummer Youth Promise that uses the latest knowledge, research, and interventions to help organizations and agencies achieve permanency for children in foster care through reunifications. (6/13/22)

How Holistic Legal Representation Supports Reunification

Rise talks with Marty Guggenheim, professor of clinical law at NYU Law School, co-director of NYU Law School’s Family Defense Clinic and co-author of the study “Effects of an interdisciplinary approach to parental representation in child welfare.”

Icebreakers: Tapping into the Power of Families Supporting Families

An article describing a practice that is successfully being used to open communication channels between birth parents and foster parents - known as Icebreakers meetings.

Parent Partners: Resources for Families, Teams, and Systems

An article highlighting how parent partners support reunification and strategies for practitioners seeking to design and implement parent partner programs in their communities.

Family Separation Happens at Our Borders Too

Protecting children requires partnering with their parents. Material support and services can safely stabilize many families in crisis while children remain at home, and the risk of leaving children at home must be balanced by the potential trauma of removal.

Children's Bureau Highlights Reunification Month

A special edition of the Children's Bureau Express highlighting National Reunification Month. Articles explore how the child welfare system can strengthen and support families and promote safe reunification; the importance of recognizing family in trying times; lessons from 10 years of National Reunification Month; understanding what keeps families together; how multidisciplinary representation promotes reunification; and more.

Reunification for Older Youth

A call by the Juvenile Law Center to support and expand safe and sustainable reunification for older youth who are in or at risk of entering the child welfare system.

How the Missouri Practice Model Transformed the State’s Child Welfare System

An overview of the Missouri Practice Model, a child and family-centered model that keeps families together through a collaborative approach.

Foster Care as Support to Families

The Children's Bureau released a new Information Memorandum in April 2020 highlighting the importance of foster care as a support to families working towards safe and successful reunification. The IM calls for communities to build and support relationships between resource families and parents as a way to engage parents and build their protective capacity, promote timely reunification, and strengthen child and family well-being.

Resource: Family Tip Sheet for Supporting Reunification

Tips and themes drawn from interviews with foster families who are outstanding supporters of reunification.

Parent Partners: Resources for Families, Teams, and Systems

An article highlighting how parent partners support reunification and strategies for practitioners seeking to design and implement parent partner programs in their communities.

Family Time/Visitation: Road to Safe Reunification

Research shows there is a strong connection between family time and safe reunification. We know that quality family time is a key indicator of earlier, and safer, reunifications. This article highlights practices that can improve the experience and outcomes for the child and family.

TIPS for Parents with Supervised Visits

Resources for parents on making the most of supervised visits.

Children's Bureau Celebrates Reunification Month

This 2021 edition of CBX highlights reunification. When out-of-home care becomes necessary, family reunification is often the ultimate goal. This issue features a message from Associate Commissioner Aysha Schomburg about our country's history of separating families and how this year's National Reunification Month is a good time to recognize how far the child welfare system has come in keeping families together and the work that has yet to be done to ensure families stay together. Other reunification month resources are also highlighted.

Permanence Can Mean Going Home

An article from the National American Council on Adoptable Children focusing on reunification with parents after termination of parental rights as a permanency option for older youth in foster care.

How Holistic Legal Representation Supports Reunification

Rise talks with Marty Guggenheim, professor of clinical law at NYU Law School, co-director of NYU Law School’s Family Defense Clinic and co-author of the study “Effects of an interdisciplinary approach to parental representation in child welfare.”

Partnering With Birth Parents to Promote Reunification

A publication by the Child Welfare Information Gateway focusing on strengthening partnerships between birth parents, foster parents and relative caregivers.

Equipping Foster Parents to Actively Support Reunification

An article about preparing and supporting foster parents to help work toward reunification—whenever reunification is the goal—and to feel supported after children return home.

Resource Families Supporting Reunification

A summary of interviews with resource families and a discussion of two models that support creating a stronger culture among resource families to support reunification.

On the Road to Reunification: Experiencing Foster Care with My Sister by My Side

D'Artagnan Caliman shares his journey through foster care to getting his MSW and being a national resource for other families. His enduring connections to his sister, mother, and others resonated with the team.

Visitation with Infants & Toddlers in Foster Care

A practice & policy brief highlighting what attorneys and judges need to know to promote high-quality visitation between parents and very young children.

Visit Coaching: When Reunification Is Unknown

Learn how enCircle’s Visit Coaching Program differs from supervised visits and how it is used to foster strong relationships with everyone involved in family visits.