Reunification, Essay Example

Reunification is the goal for the majority of cases that enter into California’s Child Protective Services. The goal is to use a variety of methods to target areas of weakness within the family and make for a more stable environment for the child to return to. The types of evidence-based practices available are fairly limited. The best option, which was given a “2” by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC, 2013), was Homebuilders. According to the CEBC (2013) this program provides services within the home of the abused child and work to assist the family in preparing for the return of this child. Other areas of practice that exist are: Project Connect, which received a “3” and works with parents suffering from substance abuse, and the Michigan Family Reunification Program and Shared Family Care, both of which have not been rated as of yet.

Evidence-based practice is important in this area because putting a child back into a family that he/she has been removed from or is at risk of being removed from is very dangerous. It is important to have the best-rated programs for this task because it is not a guess and check system; Child Protective Services are dealing with the lives and potential deaths of these children. By finding out the best practices, there will be a better chance of for a successful reunification between child and family.

The evidence in this topic is weak, as there is only one practice that is supported by evidence, earning a “2” in the ratings. The other one that has been rated only scored a “3” which shows promising research evidence. The reason that there may only be weak evidence is because there are many areas to cover when a child is reunified with their family. It is not simply looking at mental health of parents/children, substance abuse, family stability, domestic violence, etc., its taking into account all of these topics and trying to work these issues out and create a safe environment. While one family may benefit from one type of program, another may not. It is difficult to create multifaceted programs and then conduct evidence-based research to test their effectiveness.

More programs need to be created. If over half of the youth who are separated from their family will be reunified or attempt to be reunified with their family, there must be more resources and programs. Even having programs that are rated lower than a “3” may be helpful because learning from the failure of one will help develop a stronger program in the end. It cannot be expected that every program will succeed, but there must be more proposed and tested to find the ones that do.