The UMSSW's Institute for Innovation and Implementation has launched the National Quality Improvement Center on Family-Centered Reunification (QIC-R) to support the timely, stable, and lasting reunification of families with children in foster care. The QIC-R identifies, assesses, and implements interventions with five to seven public child welfare sites nationally. Successful interventions support the reunification of families by preserving, nurturing, and strengthening parent-child relationships and supportive community connections and resources, including the meaningful engagement of birth parents, foster families, youth, alumni of foster care, and other stakeholders.
Children with previous experience with foster care are at greater risk for further re-entry after reunification. Factors such as child behavior challenges, siblings in foster care at the same time, and instances of court-ordered return-home-against-agency-recommendation all increase the likelihood of re-entry after reunification. The interventions implemented through the QIC-R support the successful reunification of families by preserving, nurturing, and strengthening parent-child relationships and supportive community connections and resources. The QIC-R identifies and funds local implementation sites (LIS) to implement evidence-based, evidence-informed, or promising approaches or practices that are inclusive of comprehensive, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and individualized services for youth in foster care and their families. These approaches and practices will address several focus areas.
Read more and explore the site: https://qicfamilyreunification.org