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return home; and support for families following reunification.
Reunification is a time of mixed emotions for parents and children. Strong
emotional reactions connected to the happiness at reunification, fear of the
re-emergence of problematic parenting behaviours and future removal and
dealing with the unknown and uncertainty of outcome can result in a process that
is both stressful and challenging. Parents need practical and emotional support
and reassurance to meet their own needs as well as those of their children during
this time.
The emotional and behavioural difficulties that children present with on return
may be connected to deficiencies in the preparation and planning process with
children in relation to the return. The relationship between parent and child needs
to be rebuilt and repaired; with the burden of responsibility falling on parents to
adapt to their children's needs, especially those of young children, during
reunification. Parents need targeted skills training in order to help them do this.
Reunification needs to be viewed as another stage in a process and not a
conclusion. Risk remains high and families continue to require assistance; with
relationships key to how parents perceive and value that help. There are
indications within the literature of support for a division of labour regarding the
provision of services and supports involving child protection services, formal
community based supports and informal social support including peer support;
with positive relations between different forms a factor for preventing abuse and
resulting in improved child well-being.
Conclusions:
The themes arising from this synthesis allowed for the development an
understanding of familial experiences in the post-reunification stage that can be
used by policy makers, service providers and practitioners to inform interventions
with families during that period. In addition to practice recommendations, the
review concluded that child protection organisations need to consider the
development specific protocols regarding family reunification to ensure that
support that is required for the challenges within the post reunification period is
available. Recommendations on the need for future research on improving the
relationship between the reunited family and child protection professionals and
the role of social support in family reunification are also included.