The removal of children from their caregivers is often a painful, traumatic experience. Reunification with parents or primary caregivers is both the most common goal and the most common outcome for youth in out-of-home care. Across the country, birth parents, foster parents and child welfare professionals alike are working towards reunification and improving the transition process. Many courts and child welfare agencies are turning to parents who have previous system involvement to provide mentoring and guidance to parents entering the system. Commonly known as parent partner, parent mentor and parent ally programs, this approach has emerged nationwide as a powerful tool for family empowerment and engagement. For National Reunification Month 2018, the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law spoke with parent partners and program administrators both to better understand its benefits for reunification, and to provide tips for practitioners seeking to design and implement parent partner programs in their communities.
View the brief here.