National Reunification Month, celebrated each June, highlights the critical efforts and successes of reuniting children with their biological families. This month recognizes the dedication of child welfare professionals, foster parents and biological families who work tirelessly to create a stable and nurturing environment for children. From July 2024 to May 2025, EMPOWER reunited 290 children with their families!
Senior VP of Empower, Randy Neff, says, “I believe reunification is so important because it reflects our commitment to preserving family connections whenever it’s safe and possible. It’s about giving children the opportunity to grow up with their families, surrounded by people who know and love them.”
The goal of foster care is to reunite children with their birth families and foster parents play a crucial role in supporting that outcome. When it can be done safely, reunification is typically in a child’s best interest and safety.
Here are four ways for foster parents to prepare for reunification:
- Communicate with your worker. As a foster parent, frequently discussing your child’s case plan with your caseworker—and participating in the planning when appropriate—will help you understand what the future holds for both the child and your family.
- Prepare for the transition. Children in foster care often have many unanswered questions about their lives and little information about their history. Creating a life book with your child can help them remember the milestones and joyful moments after they leave your family.
- Take time to grieve. A child leaving home can be a profound loss. It’s certainly not easy to experience this shift in your role with your foster child, and it can be especially difficult for foster parents who would like to adopt. A birth parent says, “Creating space for relationship-building… will become transformational in the life of a parent, also in the life of a child…. A house divided is no good for a child.”
- Know that you made a difference. You may never know how the time you spent with a child will affect them in the future. However, foster parents who have maintained contact with the children they cared for, along with young people who spent time in foster care, inform us that foster parents play a significant role in children’s later success.
We honor and celebrate the resilience of families and the compassionate professionals who advocate for the well-being and reunification of children.
To learn more about reunification and how you can make a difference in children and families’ lives, please visit How To Become A Foster Parent – TFI.
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