Associate Professor Fernandez found that child welfare systems were lacking in their efforts to provide interventions to enhance reunification between parents and their children who had been placed into the foster care system.

1. Reunification Between
Parents & Their Children
Who Were Placed in Foster
Care
THE ISSUE:
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014

2. "Accomplishing Permanency: Reunification
Pathways and Outcomes for Foster
Children“ Study
• followed 168 children from 96 families over a four-year
period
• explored the perspectives of caseworkers, care givers &
parents in the temporary care program
This was a study reviewed outcomes of temporary family
care over a 20 year period. The study, A Systemic Approach
to Admission to Care for conducted by
Associate Professor Fernandez.
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014

3. "Policies of family preservation
emphasize reunification of children with
their birth families wherever possible but
this can only happen if the proper
support is provided to parents."
Researchers found that the provision of intervention and
support is currently sparse and infrequent.
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014

4. "Reunification needs to be
planned and purposeful to avert
children experiencing multiple
placement changes and
disrupted attachments"
Associate Professor Fernandez
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014

5. Rates of Reunification
• 86 % lower for children with parental substance abuse
ISSUES
• 83% lower for children in care for abuse/neglect
• 73% lower for children in care related to domestic
violence
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014

6. Study Outcomes:
• Of the 168 children, 53% were reunified during the
study
• 25% of the cohort took 12 months to be reunified with
their families
• 13% of children had already experienced five foster
care placements prior to their current placement
Fragile Families NETWORK 2014