Reunification

Bringing Families Safely Back Together

 

Almost two-thirds of the children who come into foster care through DCFS are successfully reunited with their families. Reunification can mean returning home when it is safe to do so, but it can also be connecting to other relatives who act as a guardian or provide alternate living arrangements for a child.

Deciding what is best for a child is determined on a case-by-case basis. Learn more about all of the ways DCFS is supporting those who are caring for our state’s children. 

• Family First – This initiative offers preventive services and support to strengthen the family and help children remain safely at home.
• Grandparents – More than 67,000 Louisiana grandparents are responsible for meeting the basic needs of their grandchildren.
• Kinship Caregivers – Children who are unable to receive safe, nurturing care from their own parents can achieve greater stability and a send of belonging when cared for by individuals with whom they share a long-term relationship or connection.
• Foster Caregiver – Foster care provides substitute, temporary care for a planned period of time when a child must be separated from his or her own parents or relatives.
• Quality Parenting Initiative – QPI is an approach to strengthen foster care by refocusing on quality parenting for all children in the child welfare system. Through QPI, caregivers, DCFS staff and birth parents all work as a team to support children and youth. By working together, we expect to see
  • Increased numbers of committed and quality care families, including kin, who can parent these children
  • Increased rates of placement stability
  • Reduction of use of group care
  • Increased rate of same placement for siblings
  • Increased reunification of children and birth families
  • Timely permanency
  • Highly-skilled staff committed to Quality Parenting