With June being National Family Reunification Month, it is important to celebrate the power of family reunification and recognize the importance of helping Florida families overcome obstacles and create a safe and loving environment to bring their children home to.
The foster care system is not meant to be a permanent solution for a child. Separating children from their biological parents and siblings can be traumatic for all parties involved.
National Reunification Month is an opportunity to highlight the efforts of organizations and individuals working to support children and families in reunifying when it is safe and possible. Child and family service providers are on the front lines, working to provide case management programs, therapeutic resources, and advocacy to engage parents and provide them with the training, tools, and support they need to reunite children and parents.
Inspired by the journeys of three of my sisters through the foster care system, I started 4 Sisters Solutions to improve child welfare outcomes and reunite more children with their parents. Our child welfare experts help parents navigate the complexities of the foster care system by helping them build stronger relationships with key stakeholders, all working to improve the lives of children. We serve 14 counties in North Florida to deliver this trauma-informed coaching strategy, providing parents with critical education, support, and advocacy.
With this innovative strategy, we were recently able to help a father find his voice and work toward reunification with his daughter. This child’s parents both struggled with addiction, which led to the mother relinquishing her parental rights. However, the father successfully completed the treatment and desperately tried to convince the system that he was ready to become a parent.
It became our job to convince other stakeholders that the father was ready, and that if we threw our collective support around him, he and his daughter would thrive. On his 25th birthday, he was given permission to visit his daughter at night. We helped them celebrate by sending pizza and cake so he could focus on being with his daughter. We received a letter from this father expressing his gratitude and emphasizing the meaning these services have had in the lives of his family.
These are not easy life situations to navigate. To strengthen and advance our efforts, we have joined forces with a new partnership called Partners for Florida’s Children & Families, comprised of direct service providers to children and families from across the state who collectively provide the full continuum of care, from prevention and intervention to ongoing treatment and support services. Through our collaboration, advocacy, and holistic approach to serving and strengthening our communities, we are working to shape a better future for our children and our state.
Florida’s children deserve to grow up in strong families and supportive communities and have every opportunity to reach their full potential. This can happen if we all make that a priority.
It is critical to recognize family reunification as a key component of this mission. As our state’s leaders continue to work to create a stronger and more resilient Florida, I encourage their support for efforts and initiatives that provide families with the necessary tools and services to safely reunite, heal, and thrive.
Eva Horner is the founder/president/CEO of 4 Sisters, an organization in New Port Richey, Florida that helps families in need across the state. For more information, visit 4sisters.us.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Celebrate efforts to help families safely reunite, heal and thrive
