Reunification requirements, visitation orders, court hearings... you bet, they come with the foster care territory. Our first job, and I mean all of us, have the primary job of helping to reunify foster children with their parents. As Toni Heineman counsels, when a child comes into foster care, we must all try to create the critical bond between a parent and a newborn who have been separated at birth, or help maintain that critical emotional bond between a parent and a child who has been removed from his or her family and placed out of home. That’s the law.

It can be hard for foster parents to understand the responsibility that social service agencies have to deliver reunification services and support visitation. When a child has been harmed or neglected by a parent, “second chances” do not always feel right. California law requires “second chances” for parents. In some cases, such as when a parent suffers from a severe mental disability, has lost other children to the foster care system and failed to reunify, has a history of physical or sexual abuse offenses, or has inflicted severe or fatal physical or sexual abuse, reunification services need not be provided. This is the exception, “second chances” are the rule, and successful “second chances” require frequent and ongoing visitation between parents and their children.

Frequent visitation opportunities and reunification services at the outset of a case are critical, because when an agency delays or inadequately provides these things, the court MUST give parent’s more time to reunify. Too often, children’s lives are put on hold when the court finds that parents were not provided timely services and visitation. Frequent visitation opportunities for parents also provide a valuable tool for assessing a parent’s ability to provide predictability and continuity for a child. We all need to support visitation orders, and the more we encourage and support all reunification efforts, the sooner we resolve the critical permanency issues for a child. Hard work at the front end (through aggressive delivery of reunification services and generous visitation) allows the court to measure a parent’s ability to maintain a significant relationship with the child, and thus allows for timely and judicious court decisions about our children’s futures.

Easy for us attorneys to say - follow the court orders and support all reunification efforts. We do not have the onerous job of delivering babies to strange surroundings and picking them up, over tired and sometimes upset. Yes, you do, and you may need to share your concerns about a child’s emotional health, so next month, we’ll talk about the JV 290, Caregiver Information Form. If you want a sneak preview, go to http://www.advokids.org/advokids_caregiver_info.html.