For Judges and Attorneys Handling Child Protective Services Cases
June 9, 2021
National Reunification Month
Supporting and maintaining family connections is essential to health and well-being for children. Everyone working within the child welfare system has a part in safely reunifying families as soon as possible. June is National Reunification Month, and there are many resources available to child welfare professionals to inspire commitment, creativity, and focus to achieve reunification.
The Child Welfare Information Gateway has a new podcast on the reality of reunification across the child welfare system.
The Gateway also has fact sheets to help professionals partner with a child’s caregiver to help promote reunification, whether the child is placed with relatives or foster parents. The fact sheets contain advice on maintaining boundaries, managing family dynamics, communicating with parents, building trust, using positive parenting, and securing support from the agency.
The Gateway’s reunification resource page contains additional materials to help professionals engage parents, assess readiness, and support reunification when dealing with specific barriers such as substance abuse, incarceration, and domestic violence.
The American Bar Association's National Reunification Month webpage has tips to help make reunification an everyday practice by highlighting stories of reunification from parents and youth, laying out practical advice for judges, providing tips for breaking down barriers between parents and foster parents, and showcasing examples of Family Unification Day Celebrations.
The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) maintains Parent Collaboration Groups that help support parents on the path to reunification and function as a link between parents and the agency. A list of regional parent collaboration groups can be found on the DFPS website and reunified parents who wish to volunteer can contact their regional CPS liaison for more information.
The Parent Resource Guide is also available free of charge in both English and Spanish on the Children’s Commission website and is designed to help parents understand the steps to reunification by explaining each stage of a CPS legal case in accessible, easy to understand language.
For a complete list of Resource Letters, please visit the Children's Commission webpage. Information provided by the Children’s Commission should not be read as a commentary by the Supreme Court of Texas or any other court. The Children’s Commission website is not equipped to facilitate dialogue or conversation about matters related to the information in this communique. For more information about the Children’s Commission, please visit our website.
