Foster & Help Children Reunite with Birth Families
Foster Care Should Be Temporary
Every child deserves a permanent home.
BE A REUNITER
The goal is reunification. All children entering foster care are to return to their birth families if possible. Children should not spend their entire adolescence moving from one foster home to another, and with your help, they won’t have to. As a reuniting foster parent, you will provide a temporary home, while advocating for the child’s reunification with birth parents, or kin family, or an adoptive family if necessary. With your help, children can grow up with their family or find a permanent placement with an adoptive family. As birth parents work towards their goals, reunification starts with unsupervised, overnight, and weekend visits.
Why Reunification?
Research shows that a consistent, supportive birth home can contribute positively to a child's emotional well-being and overall development, while the instability of the foster care system greatly impacts the well-being of the child. Birth parents who lose their children to the foster care system are given the necessary steps to gain their children back but often lack the encouragement and emotional support to achieve those steps. As a reuniting foster parent, you can help by maintaining open communication with the birth parents and child welfare system in hopes of encouraging reunification.
What it takes to be a REUNITER
Develop a deep desire to help the child reunite with birth parents if possible.
Become a licensed foster parent.
Open your heart and home to a child in foster care, understanding your temporary role.
Communicate often and well with social workers, birth family, and potentially kin family.
Encourage birth parent to accomplish their requirements to get their child back.
Collaborate with kin family if child cannot return to birth home.
Collaborate with new adoptive parents to ensure a permanent transition.