June is National Reunification Month! Celebrated in June each year, National Reunification Month recognizes the people and efforts around the country that help families to stay together. We want to recognize the vital role that you, as a foster parent, play in helping to reunify, strengthen and support families. The best work is done by kinship and foster parents who also support the birth parents in achieving reunification with their child and helped a family get back on track. Let’s celebrate the accomplishments of families who have overcome an array of changes to reunify safely and successfully.

There is a three-fold purpose to this
important month:

1. To celebrate the accomplishments and hard work of families who overcame difficulties to reunify with their children.
2. To recognize the vital role that other family members, social workers, foster parents, service providers, attorneys, CASAs, courts, etc. play in helping to reunify, strengthen, and support families.
3. To inspire other parents that it is possible to address and resolve the issues that led to their separation and to reunify with their children.

Foster care is supposed to be a temporary situation, and the primary goal for children is to be reunified with their biological family. Yet, it is not always clear the exact path to that result, and reunification is a process. There is a lot of work from all parties leading up to the event when the Judge rules that way. Although reunification days are a joyous occasion, the path to reunification takes work, commitment, and investment of time and resources not only by the parents but also by family members, social workers, foster parents, service providers, attorneys, CASAs, courts, and the community. It truly takes a village to bring families back together.

Resources

• National Reunification Month (americanbar.org)
• Building Parent Leadership and Power to Support Faster, Lasting Reunification and Prevent System Involvement (americanbar.org)
• Supporting Families through Reunification and Beyond (americanbar.org)
• The National Foster Parent Association - Coffee with Caregivers (nfpaonline.org)