Reunification: The Child Protection Worker’s Perspective

Family reunification is the preferred permanency option, and is the most common goal for families that have been separated. The purpose of this study was to explore various child protection workers’ perspectives on family reunification. This project intended to gain an insider perspective using a qualitative research design. A semi- structured interview was used with six child protection worker’s that participated in this study. These interviews revealed four major themes from the data collected: family factors, worker influence/bias, one size doesn’t fit all, and the system prevents reunification. Within these themes there were many subthemes including: lack of parent involvement, trauma, safety, reunification barriers, lack of resources, after-care services, and outside professional resources. After analyzing the data and existing literature, suggestions for further research focused on the need for more after-care services and working within child protection timelines with parents struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues