Family Reunification

The Family Reunification program has as its goal to reunite children with their families through the use of intensive community and home-based interventions.

Through engaging the family in a partnership, Family Reunification is able to begin services immediately after a child is placed in an out-of-home setting. We assist the families to take the necessary steps to ensure safety and wellbeing of the child so that successful transition back to the family home is possible. Once the child has returned home, our Family Reunification Specialists continue to work with the family to strengthen parenting skills and effective coping strategies so that the parent is able to resume their role.

The coordination and engagement of parents/caregivers, extended family, foster parents, placement agencies, children (if age appropriate) and other identified supports are necessary to accomplish the goal of reunification. We assure that all stakeholders have a voice in the planning process and address any of the obstacles that might be present. Some of the services provided in this program include care management, parent education and skill enhancement, emotional support, facilitation of visitations, and resource linkages. Extensive work is done with the family by first identifying goals and the tasks that need to be accomplished to meet those goals. The overall goal is to increase the protective factors in the home to ensure that the child can be reunified and will no longer be at risk for harm. Community supports and resources are leveraged to assist the families in continued success upon discharge from the program.

The length of Family Reunification is variable and dependent on the needs of the family. Typically, families are involved in the program between 3 to 12 months depending upon goal progression and overall response.