June 2011Vol. 12, No. 5Best Practices for Parent-Child Visits
A practice brief from Partners for Our Children notes the importance of family visits for children in foster care. Research has shown that regular, frequent contact between children and parents increases the chance of lasting reunification, shortens the children's time spent in out-of-home care, and helps to improve the adjustment period following placement.
Focusing on how child welfare practice can improve the quality of visits, the brief describes such best practices as timely first visits, visit planning, oversight, and documentation. The authors also address ways that parent-child visits can be supported by the juvenile court system.
Read the full article, Family Visitation in Child Welfare: Helping Children Cope With Separation While in Foster Care on the Partners for Our Children website:
www.partnersforourchildren.org/pocweb/userfiles/Best%20Practice%20Brief_visitation_final.pdf (223 KB)