June is National Reunification Month. The theme for this year is, “We Believe in the Resiliency and Strength of Families!” When children or youth are welcomed into foster care or into kinship/relative care, the goal is reunification whenever that is deemed safe and possible.
Foster parents and kinship caregivers provide children with a safe and secure temporary home until they can be reunited with their birth parents or other family members, and they make sure the ongoing needs of the children are met. In addition, foster parents and kinship caregivers work in collaboration with the child’s parents or family members, and the child’s caseworker, to facilitate a successful reunion with the child’s family. Shared parenting, or co-parenting, benefits the child in care and their family members.
Reunification relies on everyone in the child’s life working together to reunite them with their birth parents or other family members. Positive connections and partnerships between birth, foster, and relative caregiving families can and often will continue long after families have been reunified with one another.
Help us to honor the hard work of birth parents, foster parents, kinship caregivers, caseworkers, and other child and family-focused advocates, not only during the month of June, but throughout the entire year!
Please feel free to contact the Coalition at 414-475-1246 and ask to speak with one of our Resource Specialists to discuss this topic further. We have also included several resources below.
Recommended Resources
Tip Sheets
- Learning to Let Go: Coping With Reunification Anxiety
- The Balance Beam: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Kids
- Shared Parenting: Putting the Needs of Children First
From the Lending Library
- Virtual Resource Kit: Working With Birth Parents
- Fostering Across Wisconsin Newsletter: Breaking Through the Clouds: Dealing With Reunification Anxiety
Inspiration & Hope From No Matter What Families
- Everyone Needs Support: A Birth Mom’s Story
- Compassion for Birth Families Matters
- The Benefits of Connected Relationships
- A Reunification Journey
Training & Resources From Champion Classrooms
- Foster Parents Supporting Birth Parents: Considerations for Success
- Working in Partnership With Birth Parents
- Let’s Talk: Partnering With Birth Parents
- Let’s Talk: Reunification
Additional Resources
- National Reunification Month- American Bar Association
- Birth Parent National Network (BPNN) – Children’s Trust Fund Alliance
- Reunifying Families – Child Welfare Information Gateway
- Resources for Parents Seeking Reunification – Child Welfare Information Gateway
- Partnering With Birth Parents To Promote Reunification – Child Welfare Information Gateway
